LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

• LB 1555 

Shelf .&-%! 7 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



QUIZ-BOOK 



Theory anil Practice of Teaching. 



A. P. SOUTHWICK, A.M 



Author of "The Elementary Question Book," "The Advanced Ques- 
tion Book," "Dime Series of Question Books," 
"Quizzism;" Etc., Etc. 

L ° '• 

6 s 




SYRACUSE, N. Y. : 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER, 

1887. 



.57/7 



COPYRIGHT, 1884, by M. T. S. Co. 



->M?REBMB.^- 



Aware of the fact that a work of this nature invites criticism because the canons 
of pedagogy are not fixed and immutable like those of mathematics, and that there 
are opposing views on all the subjects here discussed, the writer has refrained from 
making statements that may seem dogmatic, and has tried to avoid all appearance 
of inviting antagonistic reflections or of conflicting with general professional opin- 
ion. The teacher should know that there is pre-eminently no "The Method." 
Method is the outgrowth of philosophy, and must adjust itself to the laws of mind 
and to the exigencies of science. The power of every true teacher is in himself, his 
personality, his character, his spirit and his attainments. 

" The science of teaching is a broad one, embracing many laws, and the facts to 
be noted in actual work are of sufficient importance to indr ce the thoughtful stu- 
dent to study its philosophy. The true teacher ever seeks to classify the facts daily 
observed in his teaching, drawing a distinction between those on the one hand 
which lead to nothing, and those which furnish the ground-work to laws and prin- 
ciples which make teaching a distinct profession. Use more facts; look for more 
laws; study the relation of the one to the other." 

No apology is offered for the repetition of certain ideas in the text, the duplica- 
tion of which is essential to a thorough analysis of the subject in its various 
divisions. 



-^GSF^EFpg, 



With few variations the subject matter will be found arranged as follows. The 
number indicated in the parentheses is that of the query commencing the special 
division. 

REFERENGES.-POETRY OF THE SCHOOL.-PEDAGOGIC MOSAICS. 

(1). Problem of Education.— Education Defined.— Noted Educators.— "New 
Education."— Methods.— Kindergarten Instruction. 

(13). Reading. —Primary and Advanced.— Primary Literature.— Questioning. — 
General Information.— News Bulletin.— Drills.— Elocution. 

(89). Arithmetic— Teaching Number.— Mental Work. — Analysis. — Inversion 
of the Divisor.— Tables of Measure and Money.— Object Teaching.— Rules.— Metric 
System.— Higher Mathematics. 

(170). Naturae History. 

(172). Language Lessons. 

(177). Grammar.— Methods.— Diagrams.— Outlining.— Definitions.— Prosody. 
— Punctuation. 

(227) . Composition. —Letter Writing.— Methods.— Selection of Topics. 

(249). Rhetoric. 

(251). Etymology. 

(254). Literature.— Methods.— Scrap-Book.— Arousing Interest.— Higher In- 
struction. 

(268) . Spelling.— Oral.— Written.— Primary.— Methods.— SpeUing-Matches.— 
Definition Class.— Use of Dictionary.— Orthoepy.— Diacriticals.— Drills.— SpeUing 
Reform. — Orthographic Parsing. 

(200). Psychology. 

(301). Mental Philosophy. 

(303). Natural Science.— Science Teaching.— " Query Box."— Remedy for 
Defects in Teaching. 

(310). Physiology.— Methods.— School Hygiene.— As a Moral Factor.— Preser- 
vation of Health.— Calisthenics.— Lessons in Plants.— Plea for the Sciences. 

(341). Geography.— Methods.— " Moulding."— Descriptive Geography.— Map 
Drawing.— Writing Pad.—" New Method."— Games.— Variation.— Note Book.— As- 
tronomy. —Plac.vnames.— Standard Time. 

(391). History.— Methods.— Primary Teaching.— Ethics of History.— Discard- 



CONTENTS. 



ing the Text-Book.— Mnemonics.— Exciting Interest.— Collateral Reading.— Current 
History-— Civil Government. 

(431). Penmanship.— Methods.— Mechanical Systems.— Primary Instruction- 

(442). Drawing.— Observation Culture. 

(449). Discipline.— Government.— Why Kindness Fails.— Motives.— External 
Conditions.— Aids to Discipline.— Human Nature.— Chronic Diseases.— The Remedy 
— Punishment. 

(501). Attention.— Means of Securing.— How to Fail.— The Highest Art. 

(512). Miscellaneous. — Opening' School.— Programme.— Recitations.— Whis- 
pering.— No Recess.— " Seven Laws of Teaching."— Friday Afternoons.— Music. 
—Moral Training.— Habits of the Teacher. — Book-Keeping.— Diversions.— Exhibi- 
tions.— Expositions.— Giving Assistance.— Making Presents. — Industrial Training. — 
Practical Education.— Examinations.— Good Schools and Teachers. — Giving Prizes. 
—Pedagogic Errors.— Director and Teacher. 



A&dcii&n, 



Hints, Helps, Means, and Cautions. 

"Don'ts." 

Educational Aphorisms. 






Spesial Refepeipes. 



Alexander Bain, LL. D., Education as a Science (price $1.75); published by 
D. Appleton & Co., New York City. James Johonnot, Principles and Practice of 
Teaching (price $1.50) ; same publishers. J. Baldwin, The Art of School Manage- 
ment (price $1.50) ; published by same. In the School Room; or, Chapters in the 
Philosophy of Education, by John S. Hart, LL. D. (price $1.25); published by Eld- 
redge &'Bro., Philadelphia. Manuals for Teachers: No. 1, The Cultivation of the 
Senses; No. 2, The Cultivation of the Memory ; No. 3, On the Use of Words; No. 4, 
On Discipline; No. 5, On Class Teaching (price 50 cents each); published by the 
same. 



Ofehep Refepeneeg. 



Parker's Notes of Talks on Teaching; Murdoch's Plea for Spoken Language; 
Wickersham's Methods of Instruction and School Economy; Orcutt's Teacher's 
Manual; Ogden's Science of Education and Art of Teaching; Jewell's School Gov- 
ernment; Lincoln's School and Industrial Hygiene; DoGraff's School Room 
Guide; Sypher's Art of Teaching School; Holbrook's Normal Methods; Payne's 
School Supervision; Hughes' Mistakes in Teaching; Hoose's On the Province of 
Methods of Teaching; Swett's Methods of Teaching; Holbrook's The Nero Method; 
Tate's The Philosophy of Education; and the writings of Supt. G. F. Luckey, Dr. 
John Hancock, Dr. John Philbrick, Supt. Matthews, Supt. J. E. Hillard, Chas. 
G Edwards, Supt, W. L. Balentine, Annie M. Sherrill, G. Dallas Lind, Col. F. W. 
Parker, John Swett, J. H. Hoose, Supt. W. C. Cole, R. Heber Holbrook, Supt. S. 
A. Ellis, Hon. T. W. Bicknell, Rev. A. D. Mayo, W. E. Sheldon, Supt. A. A. Wood- 
bridge. 



itonhing, not growth, mate man- 
hood. Accustom pursclf, therefore, to 
thinhing. f et purself to understand 
whateuer gou see or read. 3?o join 
thinhing with reading is one of the 
first maxims, and one of the easiest 

OgeratiOllS. -I.saac Taylor. 



SFhe Schoolmaster in Literature. 



THE JOLLY PEDAGOGUE. 



Utj CSeorgc a.ntol&. 



'Twas a jolly old pedagogue, long ago, 

Tall and slender and sallow and dry; 
His form was bent and his gait was slow, 
His long, thin hair was as white as snow. 

But a wonderful twinkle shone in his eye; 
And he sang every night as he went to bed, 

"Let us be happy here below; 
The living should live though the dead be dead." 

Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

He taught his scholars the rule of three, 

Writing and reading and history too; 
He took the little one up on his knee, 
For a kind old heart in his breast had he, 

And the wants of the littlest child he knew- 
"Learn while you're young," he often said, 

"There's much to enjoy down here below; 
Life for the living and rest for the dead," 

Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

With the stupidest boy he was kind and cool,. 

Speaking only in gentlest tones; 
The rod was hardly known in his school — 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



Whipping, to him, was a barbarous rule, 
And too hard work for his poor old bones; 

Besides, it was painful, he sometimes said. 
"We must make life pleasant here below; 

The living need charity more than the dead," 
Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

He lived in the house by the hawthorn lane, 

With the roses and woodbine over the door; 
His room was quiet and neat and plain, 
But a spirit of comfort there held reign, 

And made him forget he was old and poor. 
"I need so little," he often said, 

"And my friends and relatives here below 
Won't litigate o'er me when lam dead," 

Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

Then the jolly old pedagogue's wrinkled face 

Melted all over in sunshiny smiles; 
He stirred his glass with an old-school grace, 
Chuckled and sipped and prattled apace, 

Till the house grew merry from cellar to tiles. 
"I'm a pretty old man," he gently said; 

"I have lingered a longtime here below; 
But my heart is fresh, if my youth is dead," 

Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

He smoked his pipe in the balmy air 
Every night when the sun went down; 

W 7 hile the soft wind played in his silvery hair, 

Leaving its tenderest kisses there 

On the jolly pedagogue's jolly old crown. 

.And feeling the kisses, he smiled and said, 
"'Tis a glorious world down here below; 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



Why wait for happiness till we are dead?" 
Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 

He sat at his door one midsummer night, 

After the sun had sunk in the west, 
And the lingering beams of golden light 
Made his kindly old face look warm and bright, 

While the odorous night wind whispered rest. 
Gently, gently, he bowed his head; 

There were angels waiting for him, I know; ■ 
He was sure of happiness, living or dead, 

This jolly old pedagogue, long ago. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER IN POETRY. 



A STORY OF SCHOOL. 

The red light shone through the open door 
From the round, declining sun. 

And fantastic shadows all about 
On the dusty floor were thrown, 

As the factory clock told the hour of Ave, 
And the school was almost done. 

The mingled hum of the busy town 
Rose faint from the lower plain; 

And we saw the steeple over the trees, 
With its motionless, golden vane; 

And heard the cattle's musical low, 
And the rustle of standing grain. 

In the open casement a lingering bee 

Murmured a drowsy tune; 
And from the upland meadows, a song 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



In the lulls of the afternoon 
Had come on the air that wandered by, 
Laden with scents of June. 

Our tasks were finished and lessons said, 

And we sat, all hushed and still, 
Listening to catch the purl of the brook, 

And the whirr of the distant mill; 
And waiting the nod of dismissal, that yet 

Waited the master's will. 

The master was old and his form was bent, 

And scattered and white his hair, 
But his heart was young, and there ever dwelt 

A calm and kindly air, 
Like a halo over a pictured saint, 

On his face marked deep with care. 

His eyes were closed, and his wrinkled hands 

Were folded over his vest, 
As wearily back in his old arm chair 

He reclined as if to rest; 
And the golden streaming sunlight fell 

On his brow and down his breast. 

We waited in reverend silence long, 

And silence the master kept, 
Though still the accustomed saintly smile 

Over his features crept, 
And we thought that, worn with the lengthened toil 

Of the summer's day, he slept. 

So we gently rose and left our seats, 

And outward into the sun 
From the gathering shades of the dusty room, 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 13 

Stole gently one by one; 
For we knew, by the distant-striking clock, 
It was time the schgol Mas done. 

And left the master sleeping alone, 

Alone in his high-hack chair, 
With his eyelids closed, and his withered palms 

Folded as if in prayer, 
And the mingled light and smile on his face, 

And we knew not Death was there. 

Not knowing that just as the clock struck five, 

His kindly soul away 
A shadow messenger silently bore 

From its trembling house of clay, 
To be a child witli the saints of heaven, 

And dwell with Christ alway! 

—New York Teacher. 



YE PEDAGOGUE. 



3Bg 3oh« <&■> Saxt. 



A CONTEMPLATIVE BALLAD. 

Righte learn eed is ye Pedagogue, 
Fulle apte to reade and spelle; 

And eke to teache ye parts of speeche, 
And strap ye urchins welle. 

For as 'tis meete to soake ye feete, 

Ye ailinge head to mende, 
Ye younker's pate to stimulate, 

He beats ye other ende! 



I4 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Righte lordlie is ye Pedagogue 
As any turbaned Turke; 

For welle to rule ye District Schoole, 
It is no idle worke. 

For oft Rebellion lurketh there 
In breast of secret foes, 

Of malice full, in waite to pulle 
Ye Pedagogue his nose! 



■&"»■ 



Sometimes he heares, with trembling feares, 

Of ye ungodlie rogue 
On mischieffe bent, with felle intent 

To licke ye Pedagogue! 

And if ye Pedagogue be smalle, 

When to ye battell led, 
In such a plighte, God send him mighte, 

To break ye rogue his head! 

Daye after daye, for little paye, 

He teacheth what he can, 
And bears ye yoke, to please ye f olke, 

And ye Committee-man. 

Ah! many crosses hath he borne, 

And many trials founde, 
Ye while he trudged ye district through 

And boarded rounde and rounde! 

Ah! many a steake hath he devoured 

That by ye taste and sighte, 
Was in disdaine, 'twas very plaine, 

Of Day his patent righte! 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



Fulle solemn is ye Pedagogue, 

Among ye noisy churls; 
Ye other while he hath a smile 

To give ye handsome girls! 

And one — ye fayrest mayde of all — 

To cheer his wayninge life, 
Shall be, when Springe ye flowers shall bringe, 

Ye Pedagogue, his wife! 

— New York Ledger. 



AFTER SCHOOL. 



By CS. IT, 3oftttson. 



Beside the window she sits and dreams, 
And w^atches the shades on the river fall — 

The purple hills in the distance sleep, 

And the sunshine comes glinting over all. 

Her thoughts go back to the days of youth, 

When she roamed the hills 'neath the skies of May ; 
And voices fall on her longing ear 

Like the strains of some mem'ry-haunting lay. 

The head droops low o'er the weary hand, 

And the dreamy eyes are suffused with tears, 
While drifting up, like the sunset clouds, 
Come the tender thoughts of those vanished years. 

From the parted lips escapes a sigh, 

And the lids droop low o'er the pearly tears; 

The white cheek rests on the weary hand, 
And the spirit seeks for the vanished years. 



j6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Night lowers fast; 'round the weary frame 
Play the gathering breezes, damp and cool; 

She sleeps! How sweet will the waking be, 

When angels shall whisper, 'Tis " after school." 
— Journal of Education. 



THE SCHOGLMARM'S STORY. 



By 133olstan ©ixeij. 



A frosty chill was in the air, 

How plainly I remember — 
The bright autumnal fires had paled, 

Save here and there an ember; 
The sky looked hard, the hills were bare, 
And there were tokens everywhere 

That it had come — November. 

I locked the time-worn school-house door, 

The village seat of learning, 
Across the smooth, well-trodden path 

My homeward footsteps turning; 
My heart a troubled question bore, 
And in my mind, as oft before, 

A vexing thought was burning. 

" Why is it up-hill all the way?" 

Thus ran my meditations; 
'The lessons had gone wrong that day, 

And I had lost my patience. 
" Is there no way to soften care, 
And make it easier to bear 

Life's sorrows and vexations?" 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



17 



Across my pathway, through the wood, 

A fallen tree was lying; 
On this there sat two little girls, 

And one of them was crying. 
I heard her sob: "And if I could, 
I'd get my lessons awful good; 

But what's the use of trying?-' 

And then the little hooded head 
Sank on the other's shoulder, 

The little weeper sought the arms 
That opened to enfold her. 

Against the young heart kind and true, 

She nestled close, and neither knew 
That I was a beholder. 

And then I heard — ah! ne'er was known 
Such judgment without malice, 

No queenlier counsel ever heard 
In senate-house or palace! — 

"I should have failed there, I am sure; 

Don't be discouraged, try once more, 
And I will help you, Alice." 

"And I will help you." This is how 
To soften care and grieving; 

Life is made easier to bear 
By helping and by giving. 

Here was the answer I had sought, 

And I, the teacher, being taught 
The secret of true living. 

If "I will help you" were the rule, 
How changed beyond all measure 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



Life would become! Each heavy load 

Would be a golden treasure; 
Pain and vexation be forgot; 
Hope would prevail in every lot, 

And life be only pleasure. 

— Treasure Trove. 



THE TEACHER'S WIFE. 



She forms no hard cast-iron plan 

To guide her little school, 
Only to do the best she can 

And give the golden rule. 

Her husband over science pores, 
Till eye and thought grow dim; 

She counts the culinary stores, 
And covers books for him. 

Her desk, the corner rocking-chair; 

Her pen, the needle busy; 
Her call-bell, Bertie's, "Are you there?" 

Or, "Mamma, come to Lizzie." 

Her programme, breakfast, dinner, tea; 

Her teaching-exercise, 
Form, learned by baby's foot and knee,. 

Color, by papa's eyes. 

Her term from June to leafy June, 

She asks for no vacation ; 
Her rest, the chat at morn or noon, 

A walk, her recreation. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 19 

The old, old story of the heart, 

Told 'neath the summer sky; 
She thinks it o'er, her noblest art 

To sing a lullaby. 

The book of books helps each of them; 

He reads of rest from noise; 
She, that "The new Jerusalem 

Is full of girls and boys." 

" We'll fit them, dear," she says, and smiles, 

" To walk the golden street, 
And see that nothing which defiles 

Shall touch their hands or feet." 

" This is your school, your pupils we," 

He says, "my model teacher; 
Lessons more wise, you give to me, 

Than book, or pen, or preacher." 

And so she sends her girls and boys 

To bed for nightly rest, 
And says, while picking up their toys, 

"Isn't my school the best?" 

— -Journal of Education. 



A SCHOOL-DAY. 



Bg ^ail! T. intSparran. 



" Now, John," the district teacher says, 
With frown that scarce can hide 

The dimpling smiles around her mouth, 
Where Cupid's hosts abide, 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



" What have you done to Mary Ann, 

That she is crying so? 
Don't say 'twas 'nothing' — don't, I say, 

For, John, that can't be so. 

"For Mary Ann would never cry 

At nothing, I am sure; 
And if you've wounded justice, John, 

You know the only cure 
Is punishment! So, come, stand up; 

Transgression must abide 
The pain attendant on the scheme 

That makes it justified." 

So John steps forth, with sun-burnt face, 

And hair all in a tumble, 
His laughing eyes a contrast to 

His drooping mouth so humble. 
"Now, Mary, you must tell me all — 

I see that John will not, 
And if he's been unkind or rude, 

I'll whip him on the spot." 

""W — we were p — playin' p — pris'ner's b — base, 

An' h — he is s — such a t — tease, 
An'w — when I w — wasn't 1 — lookin', m — ma'am, 

H — he k — kissed me — if you please!" 
Upon the teacher's face the smiles 

Have triumphed o'er the frown, 
A pleasant thought runs through her mind, 

The stick conies harmless down. 

But outraged law must be avenged! 

Begone, ye smiles, begone! 
Away, ye little dreams of love, 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



Come on, ye frowns, come on! 
"I think I'll have to whip yon, John, 

Such conduct breaks the rule; 
No boy, except a naughty one, 

Would kiss a girl — at school." 

Again the teacher's rod is raised, 

A Nemesis she stands — 
A premium were put on sin, 

If punished by such hands! 
As when the bee explores the rose 

We see the petals tremble, 
So trembled Mary's rose-bud lips — 

Her heart would not dissemble. 

" I wouldn't whip him very hard" — 

The stick stops in its fall — 
"It wasn't right to do it, but — 

It didn't hurt at all!" 
"What made you cry, then, Mary Ann?" 

The school's noise makes a pause, 
And out upon the listening air, 

From Mary comes — "Because!" 

— The Continent. 



thp: district school. 



Uy 32cniamin Y. ^Taylor. 



Don't yon hear the children coming, 

Coming into school? 
Don't you hear the master drumming 

On the window with his rule? 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



Master drumming, children coming 
Into school? 

Tip-toed fingers reach the catch, 
Tiny fingers click the- latch; 
Curly-headed girls throng in, 
Lily free from toil and sin. 
Breezy boys bolt in together, 
Bringing breaths of winter weather, 
Bringing baskets Indian checked, 
Dinners in them sadly wrecked. 
Ruddy handed mittens off, 
Soldiers rush from Malakoff — 
Built of snow, and marble white 
Bastions shining in the light, 
Marked with many a dint and dot 
Of the ice-cold cannon shot! 
Hear the last assaulting shout! 
See the gunners rally out — 
Charge upon the battered door — 
School is called, and battle o'er! 



LESSONS. 



Btj Sallxe H. iloach- 



"The school of the intellectual man is the place where he happens to be, and 
his teachers are the people, books and animals, plants, stones, and earth round 
about him."— Philp Gilbert Hamerton. 

There are lessons to learn through the school time of life, 
In the great, pressing throng, 'mid its hurry and strife: 
There are teachers around us great truths to make plain; 
There are sources from which daily knowledge to gain. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 23 

There are lessons of love from the birds and flowers, 
Whose perfume and song fill the glad summer hours; 
There are lessons of trust and of hope when the snow 
Wraps in semblance of death the new life we shall know. 

There are lessons of might in the starry-gemmed sky— • 
In the voice of the wind as it swift passeth by; * 
There are lessons of awe in the broad-crested waves, 
Breaking still as they broke over centuries' graves. 

There are lessons of toil from the insects in air; 
There are lessons of patience, and duty and care. 
While the woodland re-echoes with industry's tones, 
Shall we, "little lower than angels," be drones? 

There are lessons of man's mental gifts in the store 
Of rich, garnered knowledge each age reckons more. 
Shall not yet every year, every nation and clime, 
Man by man, add the gems that shall each tell its time? 

There are lessons of life as each day turns the page, 
From the spring-time of youth to the frost-time of age; 
There are lessons of wanderings, lessons of tears, 
Re-echoed in wails floating on through the years. 

Aye, and still there are lessons of honor and right, 
Like radiant beams shining far through the night; 
There are lessons of manhood, and wisdom and truth, 
Unrolled for the guidance and welfare of youth. 

Let us heed them — these lessons for mind and for heart — 
Gleaning still, day by day, that each God-given part, 
Well schooled through the years, form at last the grand whole, 
Which shall yet live eternal — a perfected soul. 

— The Teacher. 



24 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER. 



Btj OHocr (TiolismiHi. 



Beside yon straggling fence, that skirts the way, 

With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, 

There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 

The village master taught his little school. 

A man severe he was, and stern to view : 

I knew him well, and every truant knew. 

Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace 

The day's disasters in his morning's face ; 

Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee 

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he ; 

Full well the busy whisper, circling round, 

Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned. 

Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, 

The love he bore to learning was in fault. 

The village all declared how much he knew : 

'Twas certain he could write and cipher, too ; 

Lands he could measure, storms and tides presage ; 

And e'en the story ran that he could gauge ; 

In arg'ing, too, the parson owned his skill, 

For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still ; 

While words of learned length and thund'ring sound 

Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around ; 

And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, 

That one small head could carry all he knew. 

But past is all his fame, the very spot 

Where many a time he triumph' d is forgot. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 25 



A COUNTRY SCHOOL. 



Qg <5. ^. Cutler. 



Pretty and pale and tired 

She sits in her stiff-backed chair, 
While the blazing summer sun 

Shines on her soft brown hair; 
And the little brook without, 

That she hears through the open door, 
Mocks with its murmur cool 

Hard bench and dusty floor. 

It seems an endless round — 

Grammar and A. B. C; 
The blackboard and the sums; 

The stupid geography; 
When from teacher to little Jim 

Not one of them care a straw, 
Whether "John" is in any "case," 

Or Kansas in Omaha. 

For Jimmy's bare brown feet 

Are aching to wade in the stream, 
Where the trout to his luring bait 

Shall leap with a quick, bright gleam; 
And his teacher's blue eyes stray 

To the flowers on the desk hard by, 
'Till her thoughts have followed her eyes 

With a half unconscious sigh — 

Her heart outruns the clock, 

As she smells their faint sweet scent; 



■^6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



But when have time and heart 
Their measure in unison blent? 

For time will haste or lag, 

Like your shadow on the grass, 

That lingers far behind, 

Or flies when you fain would pass. 

Have patience, restless Jim, 

The stream and fish will wait; 
And patients, tired blue eyes — 

Down the winding road by the gate, 
Under the willow shade, 

Stands some one with fresher flowers; 
So turn to your books again, 

And keep love for the after hours. 




fedagQgi© M@s§i(iS, 



Sducatton is th.* one lining "Fountain tuhtch must n*at©r euerg 
part oi the Social <J5ar6en.*' 



What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to 
a human soul. The philosopher, the saint and the hero, the 
wise, the good and the great man very often lie hid and con- 
cealed in a plebeian, which a proper education might have dis- 
interred and brought to light. — Addison. 

The essential difference between a good and a bad edu- 
cation is this, that the former draws on the child to learn by 
making it sweet to him; the latter drives the child to learn by 
making it sour to him if he does not. — Charles Buxton. 

Language is not an instrument into which if a fool breathe, 
it will make melody. — Godwin Smith. 

I wish to have them speake so it may well appeare that 
the brain governe the tonge, and that reason leadeth forth 
the taulke. — Roger Ascham. 

The secret of thrift is knowledge. 

— Charles JKingsley. 

If your head always directs your pupil's hands, his own 
head will become useless to him. — Rousseau. 

That in education we should proceed from the simple to 
the complex is a truth which has always been to some extent 



2 8 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

acted upon; not professionally, indeed, nor by any means 
consistently. The mind grows. Like all things that grow it 
progresses from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous; and 
a normal training system being an objective counterpart of 
this subjective process, must exhibit the like progression. 

— Herbert Spencer. 

The teacher is like the candle, which lights others in con- 
suming itself. — Ruffini. 

Let me here remark, that it were better for parents to 
teach their children morals, and cultivate their hearts rather 
than their brains in the present generation. We would thus 
have fewer criminals and more virtue. — Trude. 

The best part of our knowledge is that which teaches us 
where knowledge leaves off and ignorance begins. 

— 0. W. Holmes. 

Education has to deal with the heart, the head, and the 
hand. — Pestalozzi' 's Axiom. 

Things that have to be done should be learned by doing 
them. — Comenius. 

The thing we want to save for our children is the habit 
of intense patient reading of the world's few good books. 

— Talk with Teachers. 

Would you teach for all time? Keep your eyes well on 
the ends, or rather on the aims, the far-off, ultimate aims, and 
beware of losing your efficiency in exclusive attention to 
immediate results. Never, for a moment, lose your faith in 
the universal law of love, which, in the emotional world, is 
as unfailing and as free from exceptions as the law of gravi- 
tation in the world of matter. Never for a moment lose your 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACH IXC. 



faith in truth, which, by the same law, the mind is destined 
inevitably to find; nor in that supreme freedom of the will 
to follow truth and love. 

Education is a better safe-guard of liberty than a standing 
army. If we retrench the wages of the schoolmaster, we 
must raise those of the recruiting sergeant. 

— Edward Everett. 

For one to possess capacity for knowledge, and die ignor- 
ant — this, I call tragedy. — Carlyle. 

The government of the child should be kingly. 

— Aristotle. 

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at 
last we can not break it. — Horace Mann. 

Our school-houses are all the days and nights of our 
e xistence. — Carlyle. 

TO THE TEACHER. 

Thou must be true thyself 
If thou the truth wouldst teach; 
Thy soul must overflow, if thou 
Another soul wouldst reach; 
It needs the overflowing heart 
To give the lips full speech. 
Think truly, and thought 
Shall the world's famine feed; 
Speak truly, and thy word 
Shall be a fruitful seed; 
Live truly, and thy life shall be 
A great and noble creed. 

"No man ever yet attained excellence in any art or pro- 
fession, who has not floating before his mind by day and 



3° 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



night, an ideal, and vision of what he might and ought to 
do," states a writer of distinction; "and while his aspirations 
are circumscribed by the actual, and his efforts do not over- 
leap the probable, he is a mere mediocre, for it is this ideal 
which stimulates the mind to its loftiest and grandest 
achievements." 

Teacher! to thyself 
Thou has assumed responsibilities 
Of crushing weight. A mighty peerless work 
Is thine. The golden chords attuned by thee, 
Or grown by thy neglect discordant, not 
In time alone, but through the limitless 
Expanse of all eternity, shall throb; 
And should one note, which thou, by greater care, 
More zealous labors, or by added skill, 
Might now attune in harmony, be found 
At last in dissonance with virtue, truth, 
Or mental symmetry, in Heaven's sight, 
Methinks a fearful guilt will on thee rest. 
Thou hast to do with God's most noble work! 
The image fair, and likeness of himself! 
Immortal mind. That emanation bright 
From his Divinity! Sole transfer made 
To man from his own deathless nature! Such, 
Instructor, is thy trust! Thus sacred, high, 
And precious, e'en beyond all finite power 
To estimate, thy holy charge. No work 
Of art, or finest mechanism in things 
Material, hath e'er so challenged for 
Its right discharge e'en the vast aggregate 
Of human skill. 



theory and Practice of teaching. 



iftucnlion is at Home a -Tri-cno, Abroad an Introduction, in Soli- 
tudc a Solace, in Society an Ornament* 



1. What is the great problem in education? 

"How to induce the pupil to go through with a course 
of exertion, in its result good and even agreeable, but imme- 
diately and in itself, irksome." 

— A lexa n tier Ham ilton . 

2. What is Education? 



" Education is the generation of Power. 1 



— Pestalozzi. 



" Education is the culture which each generation purpose- 
ly gives to those who are to be its successors in order to grat- 
ify them for at least keeping up, and, if possible, for raising 
the improvement which has been attained." 

— John Stuart Mill. 

" Education is developing in due order and proportion 
whatever is good and desirable in human nature." 

— Hart. 

" Education is the harmonious and equable evolution of 
the human powers." — Prussian Idea. 

"Education as an art consists in selecting and applying: 
the means used for imparting instruction and culture." 

— Wickersham. 



3 j A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

t 

" Education embraces the culture of the whole man with 
all his faculties." — Anon. 

"The end of Education is to render the individual, as 
much as possible, an instrument of happiness to himself and 
next, to other beings." — James Mill. 

" How to make the most of one's self, is not this the pur- 
pose and problem of Education? Education in its broadest 
sense means development. It is the evolution of every human 
power." — Baldwin. 

"The object of Education is to produce a well-balanced, 
many-sidedness of interest." — Anon. 

" The true objective point in Education is the develop- 
ment and culture of the mind. — Kellogg. 

"The aim of Education is morality. — Herbart. 

"Education as a science comprehends the laws of the 
physical and mental constitution of man, and its relations to 
those means by which he can receive instruction and cul- 
ture." — Anon. 

" Education is confined to the efforts made of set pur- 
pose, to train men in a particular way; the efforts of the 
grown-up part of the community to inform the intellect and 
mould the character of the young; and more especially to the 
labors of professional educators or schoolmasters." 

— Chambers'* Encyclopedia. 

" Moral culture is pre-eminently the aim of all Educa- 
tion." — Eichte. 

" Education, in its true sense, seems to be a full, perfect 
discipline not only of the mental and moral powers, but of the 
physical as well." — Raab. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 33 

u The term Education is derived immediately from the 
Latin word 'educare' (to bring up or to instruct) from the 
root 'educere' (to lead forth, or to draw out). This literal 
rendering but imperfectly represents the meaning that 
now attaches to the word. It not only means to draw out, 
but it includes the appliances and. agencies necessary for the 
development of a human being." — Jo/ionnot. 

" Education, in the most extensive sense of the word, 
may comprehend every preparation that is made in our youth 
for the sequel of our lives." — Paley. 

" To learn how to observe and how to distinguish things 
correctly is the greater part of Education" — -As,/ Gray. 

3. Name some noted educators. 

Pestalozzi, Froebel, Jacotot, Dr. Arnold, Frederick 
Barnard, Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, Adolph Diesterweg, 
Louis Agassiz, Herbert Spencer, Thomas H. Huxley, 
Joseph Payne, and many other noted names of our own time. 

4. What are the "Nine Laws" of Pestalozzi? 

1. Activity is the law of childhood. Accustom the 
child to do— educate the hand. 

2. Cultivate the faculties in their natural order. First 
form the mind, and then furnish it. 

3. Begin with the senses, and never tell a child what he 
can discover for himself. 

4. Reduce the subject t<< its elements. One difficulty 
at a time is enough for a child. 

5. Proceed step by step; be thorough. 

6. Let every lesson have a point. 

7. Develop the idea, then give the term. 

8. Proceed from the known to the unknown. 

9. Synthesis, then analysis; not the order of the subject, 
but the order of nature. 



34 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

5. What educational principles have always been asserted? 
All great educators from Socrates and Plato to the pres- 
ent, have enunciated the following: 1. The individual free- 
dom of teacher and pupil. 2. The cultivation of sense- 
perception as the foundation of mental growth. 3. The 
study of the laws of mental growth, as developed in the 
child, the first qualification of the teacher for his high office. 

4. The true educational spirit never asserts but inquires. 

5. Induction precedes deduction. There must be an in-leading 
before there can be an out-leading, or drawing-out process. 

6. What is meant by the "New Education?" 

It is based on the great principle of directing instead of 
repressing the activity of childhood. The general principles 
of this normal instruction have been applied in many public 
schools for years past, but to Col. Francis W. Parker belongs 
the credit of having systematized and perfected this method. 
Time and the ceaseless march of events which have changed 
so much the fashion of our outward lives, have not spared 
the primary schools of the country. It is next to impossible 
to describe intelligently and briefly the change that is going 
on, and it is difficult to predict the consequences that will in 
the course of years result from the "new education." The 
traditional order of studies — the Alphabet, Spelling, Read- 
ing, Writing — has been completely reversed, and the new 
order is Writing, Reading, Spelling. In place of learning to 
read and to spell through the medium of spelling, children 
learn to read and to spell through the medium of writing. 
The alphabet which used to occupy the first three months of 
a child's school life is left to take care of itself. Drawing 
and music, the "extras" of the boarding school and institute, 
are made fundamental exercises in the new primary school. 
Composition, which as a study, was formerly postponed to 



A N D 7 ' R A CTICE OF TEA CHING . 35 

the High School course, is begun in the first year of school 
life. Spelling, which was once the " grand gymnastic" of 
the schools for the first seven years, is now reduced to a sub- 
ordinate position. It is considered sufficient that a child 
should be able to spell all the words that he can use. To 
learn more is thought to be a waste of time, for the ability to 
spell other words is expected to come with the knowledge of 
the words themselves, and the knowledge of the words will 
come with more extensive reading. Thus reading is made 
the means of teaching spelling instead of using spelling, as 
in former days, as a preparation for reading. 

7. What are its results? 

The current of change seems to set in the direction of a 
knowledge of tilings rather than of words; and in addition to 
the three R's which were once supposed to constitute the 
sum and substance of elementary knowledge, we have three 
other things to teach — to observe closely, to think justly, and 
to express thought correctly. 

8. What is meant by the History of Education? 

The narration of the success or the failure, the causes 
and the effects of the various educational systems and efforts 
which have characterized the past. 

9. What is the object of education? 

To develop mind, body and soul; to make men and 
women of the children committed to our care, to the end that 
that they may become good citizens. 

10. W^hat may be said of the educator? 

His knowledge should be adequate to accomplish the 
obj ect sought to be attained. His character should be such as 
to make him the example of the children committed to his 



36 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



care, and, additionally, he should be largely possessed of that 
very uncommon commodity, common sense. The teacher 
who does not enter the business as a life-work, rather than a 
"makeshift," is unfit for the profession. 

11. Can "anybody" teach school? 

No. Tt is popularly believed that all professions, except 
one, must be learned by study and practice in their own 
particular lines, but that teaching, the most important of all 
professions, does not require any special training. A greater 
mistake could not be made. A knowledge of geography, 
arithmetic, and the spelling book will not make a successful 
teacher, and the claim that any one with a good general edu- 
cation, the graduates of High Schools, Academies, and 
Colleges are competent to teach in the public schools, and 
should be licensed as such, is no more true of education than 
of law or medicine. A good general education is of inesti- 
mable value as a foundation for any pursuit,- but that it 
should take the place of special or professional training is as 
false in theory as it is pernicious in practice. 

12. Of what does the "Art of Teaching" consist? 

The skillful application of rules and methods, deduced 
from science and from intelligent obseivation and experiment. 
*' Teaching is a process controlled by principles aiming at 
products. The Process of teaching is the training of the 
growing mind. The Product aimed at by this process is the 
pleasure-giving power of unselfish self-improvement. The 
Principles controlling this process make it systematic." 

13. What does the Theory and Practice of Teaching embrace? 
It embraces the whole science of education. It investi- 
gates the susceptibilities and powers of the mind, and the 



±ND PRACTICE F TEA HING. 



37 



methods by which they may be trained and developed into 
activity, strength, and harmony. 

14. What does education do for a people? 

It tends to make a people more orderly and to substitute 
reflection for passion; to predispose them to respect lawful 
authority; to render political revolutions gradual and blood- 
less; to qualify men for the exercise of more and more" 
power; to make refinement and civilization universal. 

15. What is a method of instruction? 

It is the way of performing an act. Teaching is a 
mental act, or that act which consists in presenting objects 
and subjects to a mind, so as to occasion the activity which 
produces knowledge and culture. 

16. How many methods are there in use? 

Six. The Text-Book, Oral, Soeratic, Topical, Discussion, 
and Lecture. The two general divisions are naturally the 
Oral and Written. Oral teaching calls into exercise the 
active powers of the mind, while written teaching addresses 
itself to the passive powers only. 

17. What is the Soeratic method? 

Socrates taught by questioning. His aim was to prepare 
the mind of his pupils to receive the truth, by proving to 
them their ignorance, and then creating a curiosity, a desire, 
a thirst for real knowledge. 

18. Is a knowledge of mental philosophy of any benefit to 
the teachers? 

No one who has taught can be absolutely ignorant of 
mental philosophy. For though he had never studied this 
science from books, the operations of his own mind would 
naturally be observed when he came in contact w r ith other 



38 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

minds. The farmer studies the character of the soil, the 
chemist carefully analyzes the ore, and the business man 
ponders over the probabilities of gain or loss; but the minds 
of children are more deserving of study than soil, or ore, or 
trade. They generally receive less. 

19. What then is one element of successful teaching? 

A thorough knowledge of human nature. This, combined 
with tact, talent, firmness, and executive ability, forms the 
perfect teacher. 

20. What is meant by mental faculties? Is there any fixed 
natural order of development? 

The faculties, or powers of the mind, are divided by 
metaphysicians into three classes: The intellectual faculties, 
the affections, and the will, or, the phenomena of knowing, 
the phenomena of feeling, and the phenomena of willing. 
Those intellectual faculties which are first developed are first 
to decay; as, for instance, the faculty of perception, so keen 
in the child, so dull in the old man; and the reasoning 
faculty retained in extreme old age is far removed from 
infancy and childhood, and is developed slowly and painfully 
by average pupils in advanced grades. Between perception 
and reasoning lie memory, imagination, conception, judgment. 

21. How can the memory be strengthened? 

Memory is that faculty of the mind by which we retain 
and recall knowledge. By "knowledge" there is not meant 
certain facts that have been poured into us from without, but 
the results of our own mental activity. This activity may be 
excited by many circumstances, and especially by a teacher 
who appreciates this idea of knowledge and acts accordingly. 
If we make an effort to remember anything thoroughly, we 
become aware of four processes of thought through which we 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



39 



must pass. (1) Thus we must know that we have at some 
time pigeon-holed that particular fact, that is, retained it. 
(2) That we must know in which hole to look for it, that is, 
to recollect it, collect it again, or call it again. (3) That 
when found it must make a clear picture to our mind; it must 
not have faded, that is it must be vividly represented to us. 
(4) That when such a picture is presented it must be recog- 
nized as the same fact we first laid away — that we know it as 
true to the original. Hence, whatever excites these four 
elements of memory — retention, recollection, representation, 
and recognition — is a permanent stimulant and strengthener 
of this faculty of the mind. Then do everything to win 
attention, and center it on one thingat a time. "Committing 
to memory" golden thoughts, bits of poetry, dialogues, 
descriptions, and definitions also gives strength to the faculty. 
A constant "going over" the necessary facts of a lesson 
impresses the memory by its very repetition. And it is to be 
remembered that what is written by pupils is better remem- 
bered than what is read; that what is told them is remembered 
better than what they write, and that what they learn to do 
for themselves is the best remembered of all. 

22. What are other aids in cultivating memory? 

Obtain the power of a rapid perception of your surround- 
ings. The completion of a vivid perception is the beginning 
of memory. For instance, walk rapidly by a shop window 
and see how many objects you can recall, the first time, the 
second, the third. Dictate an interesting story or description 
and have pupils instantly write it out from memory, or relate 
it to you orally. Repeat a list of words that have no con- 
nection and have them repeated in the same order. These 
two instruct the ear. Take different coins and drop them 
upon the desk, at the same time naming them. Repeat the 



4 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



dropping, and have the pupils with their eyes shut, recall the 
pieces merely by sound. 

23. What class of teachers do our primary schools require? 
The best. Our public schools may be regarded as the 

index of our civilization, and tv as the teacher is, so is the 
school." The stream does not rise higher than the fountain. 
It is an old and wise saying of Alexander Pope that "Educa- 
tion forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent, the 
tree's inclined." If this is true, then the necessity of 
employing in our primary schools the most skillful teachers, 
of large experience, is apparent. A good teacher is cheap at 
any price, and it is better to have no school than a poor one. 

24. What salaries should be paid primary teachers? 

It is to be hoped that the effort to abolish the distinction 
between the salaries of grammar and primary teachers now 
being made in some of our larger cities will be successful. It 
is the relic of a barbarous time; there is nothing to be said 
in its favor. Thanks to Froebel that he taught the value of 
those who teach little children. tk The post of difficulty is in 
the primary department." — Phelps. The labor of the gram- 
mar teachers is doubled for want of good teaching in the 
primary school. The primary teacher should be paid as much 
as any other teacher in the school excepting alone the princi- 
pal. And such recognition of her -worth is already granted in 
many different localities. 

25. What is Kindergarten instruction? 

Familiarizing children, by the aid of objects, with 
solids, surfaces, and outlines. With the lessons on form are 
associated lessons on color, and from the object, perception, 
memory, comparison, and language are cultivated. With 
these, printing, writing, and drawing are used in exercising 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACH IXC. 



both hand and eye, and music and calisthenics to enliven the 
routine of instruction. 

26. How may " nature lessons" be taught? 

They may be given to young children by allowing them 
to bring to the school-room pieces of wood and bark, and 
specimens of rocks, shells, etc., and having them tell what 
they know of them and the habits of birds and insects, sup- 
plemented by oral instruction from the teacher. Studies in 
elementary Botany — very useful in training the powers of 
observation — should be given only in the early autumn. 

27. What is the difference between the work of the teacher 
and that of the pupil? 

The teacher's work is instruction. The pupil's work i& 
learning. The pupil must obey. Both teacher and pupils 
must do the best they can. The teacher must understand his 
own rights as well as those of his pupils. 

28. What distinction do you make between instruction and 
training? 

A pupil is taught when he is told something and under- 
stands it, but he is trained when he can do something and do 
it well. Under teaching, the mind is receiving; under training, 
the mind is thinking, or the hand doing, or both may be 
acting. Teaching is thinking or doing for others, but train- 
ing is getting others to do or think for themselves. Walking 
a tight rope, or writing and delivering a grand oration, 
requires more training than teaching. The training of the 
mind and the training of the hand should be separated in no 
system of education. It has been well said "That civiliza- 
tion is not healthy which divorces the training of the intellect 
from the labor of the hands." If boys and girls would go to 
school a half day and work the other half, the loss in one 



4 2 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



direction would be compensated by gain in another direction. 
The number of workers who earn a livelihood by tleir hands 
will always far outnumber those who can earn a livelihood by 
their heads. Then why should the training of the hand be 
so neglected in early life? 

29. What is the object of primary instruction? 

To develop the faculties of the soul, the reason, the 
senses, and the bodily strength. 

30. What faculty is predominant in children? 

The perceptive. In the primary grade, children deal only 
with facts, and facts are learned by perception. When the 
pupils have advanced in the intermediate grades to that point 
where they begin to generalize, and to study first principles, 
then give the memory its proper share of work; however, in 
primary grade we want but little memorizing — the less the 
better. We should spend one golden year in teaching the 
children how to learn rather than in converting their memo- 
ries into mental scrap-books. 

31. What may be said of the technical skill of the teacher? 
" In order to train children how to do we must be able to 

do ourselves; hence the great importance of that preparation 
on the part of a teacher which will result in skill in the 
technics of school work. First of all, the voice should be 
trained, for a clear, musical voice is one of the teacher's most 
potent qualifications for success, and can not be overrated. 
Drill in phonics is necessary, not only to gain the ability to 
give the slow pronunciation with ease and with natural 
inflections, but as an aid to perfect articulation and pronun- 
ciation. That every teacher should be an expressive reader is 
self -evident, but it might not occur to all, that to be an 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 43 

-eloquent talker is also one of the requisites demanded by the 
New Methods."— F. W. Parker. 

32. What is reading? 

It is obtaining thought by means of written or printed 
words arranged in a sentence or sentences. Thought may be 
defined as ideas in relation. Ideas are either sense products 
or derivations from sense products. We get thought, first, 
by seeing objects in their relations; second, by thinking of 
things in their relations without their presence; third, by 
seeing pictures or drawings of objects in their relations; and, 
fourth, by language. We get thought by language in two 
ways. First, by the spoken language, and, second, by the 
written or printed language. 

33. How can we teach children to talk? 

By giving them something to talk about, and then insist 
that they shall express their thoughts in good language. An 
occasional exercise in talking will not suffice. The teacher, 
every day, should read something of interest to the class, and 
then require the pupils to reproduce the subject matter in 
their own words, or give the class a few minutes for silent 
reading, and then require them to reproduce the thought of 
the writer in their own language, either spoken or written. 

34. What are the chief characteristics of a good reader? 
To be able to interpret readily and express clearly, the 

thoughts and feelings of an author. 

35. What are the chief ends to be attained in teaching 
reading in the common schools? 

The securing of proper oral expression of written 
language, and the development of the power of grasping 
thought. Some of the indispensable qualities of good read- 



44 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

ing are precision of articulation, paying proper attention to 
the pauses, the correct inflection, accent, emphasis, and the 
adoption, as far as possible, of the ordinary colloquial tone 
of voice. 

36. Should we " mind the pauses"? 

Teachers sometimes instruct pupils to stop and count 
"one" at a comma, "one, two," at a semicolon, and soon. 
A slight knowledge of punctuation suffices to show the 
absurdity of these old rules. The fact is, that in some of the 
most common cases in which a comma is necessary, a speaker 
would make no pause. For example, "No, sir," "Thank 
you, sir." This leads to a mechanical, unnatural style of 
reading. First attend to the reading of sentences, and lead 
the pupils to see how the pauses aid in understanding the 
meaning. Do not teach reading as if attention to "pauses" 
were the chief object to be attained. Reciting definitions of 
pauses is not only useless, but it leads to a great waste of 
time. Teach the use of the pauses in the lesson, instead of 
the definition of them. A few teachers pay no attention to 
the explanation of the words, but turn their attention almost 
entirely to the names and the pronunciation, important points, 
to be sure, but by no means the life-giving elements of good 
reading. 

37. How many methods are used in teaching children to 
read? 

Ten. The Word Method, Object Method, Phonic Meth- 
od, Phonotypic Method, Phonetic Method, Look-and-say 
Method, Word-Building Method, Sentence Method, Drawing 
Method, and the A. B. C. or Alphabetic Method. 

38. What may be said of these methods? 

Some of them are very unphilosophical, and leave no 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 45 

cause for surprise that so many children flounder at the very 
threshold of knowledge, the very place that should be most 
-attractive. In the word method we begin by teaching words, 
leading the children to recognize them as wholes. This 
method is now used extensively; it was the method used by 
the race in developing the language. 

39. How is the ''object method" used? 

The children's attention is tirst directed to some object 
with which they are familiar by sight, name, and use. The 
teacher shows the object to his pupils and the name is given 
by them. If they ean not give the name the teacher tells 
them. He then presents a picture of the object, or makes a 
drawing of it upon the board; then the name is plainly written 
under the drawing. The pupils are now taught to distinguish 
from one another, the object, the picture of it, and the word 
representing it. 

40. For what is the " look-and-say" method claimed to be 
advantageous? 

First — For mastering the word by the eye. Second — For 
recognizing the w r ord in the sign, and for acquiring practical 
acquaintance with the number of letters and syllables. 
Third — For its suitability to the circumstances of common 
schools. 

41. What is the application of the " word-building" method? 

Its purpose is to begin with words of one letter, as A, I, 
O, and gradually form new words by prefixing or affixing 
single letters. The child is taught first to pronounce the 
word, then the letters that form it. Separate letters of the 
alphabet and spelling, are taught by asking questions similar 
to the following: 



4 6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

"What letter is placed after o to form onT? 
" What letter after on to form one?" 
" What letter before one to form lone?" 
"What letter before lone to form alone?" 

42. Should the spelling of words in the reading lesson be 
allowed? 

No. This is in violation of the fundamental laws of 
teaching. It attempts to compel the child to do two things at 
the same time, and to do both in an unnatural manner, viz.: 
to learn reading and spelling simultaneously, and reading 
through spelling. Reading has to deal with sounds and signs 
of thoughts. Spelling rests on a habit of the age, which is 
best acquired by writing. In attempting to teach reading 
through spelling the effort distracts the attention from the 
thought; reading furnishes facilities for teaching spelling; but 
spelling does not furnish a suitable means for teaching read- 
ing. If spelling is permitted, a love of reading is not 
enkindled, and good readers are not produced. 

43. How would you give instruction in primary reading? 

Train the pupils to pronounce the words readily at sight. 

1. Print or write the words on the board in columns; pupils 
pronounce them. Here reading charts are indispensable. 

2. Write difficult words on the board and syllabicate them; 
pupils pronounce them. 3. Require the pupils to bring in a 
portion or all of the reading lesson written upon the slate, 
from which they should read the lesson. 4. Require the 
pupils to pronounce the words forward; reverse. 5. Alter- 
nate. Cautions: (a) Present to the pupils only one diffi- 
culty at a time, (b) Never permit them to spell words in 
reading, (c) Insist upon correct articulation and pronunciation. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 47 

44. What is the standard for good reading? 
Its resemblance to good conversation. 

45. Should we follow the rules given for inflection? 

" Let me caution you against placing dependence upon 
rules of inflection of the voice given in reading books. All 
that you need is to fully understand the thought; when you 
have the thought fully, you will know all about inflection of 
the voice. If a person can not translate what he reads into 
his own language, he most assuredly does not understand it. 
If you can not bring out in your own language the full mean- 
ing of the lesson, you are not the one to teach, and you should 
either adopt some other vocation, or go through a rigid course 
of reading." — E. V. DeGi 

46. What are the results of ''Mental Picturing?" 

By this process we are enabled to conceive definite ideals 
and sharply defined images of the word scenes we are de- 
picting. This makes our description vivid, or our narration 
vivacious and wide-awake. It moves to tears in pathos, or to 
laughter in comedy. It makes the flesh thrill in tragedy, and 
lack of it enables us to sit unmoved through the recitation of 
the most affecting language — that is, language having all the 
requisites for strong emotional feeling. 

47. How is this applied in the school-room? 

By having the pupils picture every detail fully. Draw 
out their exceptions in logical order by careful questioning. 

48. What illustration can be given of this? 
Take the example: — 

" And the nights shall be filled with music, 

And the cares that infest the day, 
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 

And as silently steal away."— Longfellov. 

How shall the nights be filled? What is it that infests 



48 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



the day? What will the " cares" do? Who shall fold their 
tents? How? What will become of the "cares"? How 
will they " steal away"? Who will steal away? And thus 
by a series of questions graded according to the sense and 
•difficulty of the work — if sufficiently advanced, ask about the 
author, the name of the selection, literary worth, and beauty — 
you can interest any class and draw out the most artistic 
pictures, adding wonderfully to the vividness of their 
readme:. 



*&• 



49. What distinction can be made between " good reading" 
and elocution? 

None. The art of reading has been defined as that em- 
bodying every accomplishment, both of voice and action, 
necessary to appropriate expression, and elocution as an artis- 
tic copy of intelligent, significant, and expressive speech as 
employed in our communication with each other, either in 
the energized enforcement of deliberate argument, the sympa- 
thetic and endearing expressions of affectionate intercourse, 
the bursts of passion, or the ordinary statement of facts and 
circumstances which concern our business or other relations. 

50. Why should primary instruction be more largely oral 
than higher instruction? 

The reason is plain, for very young pupils cannot investi- 
gate books like older pupils, and the teacher must not only 
give more instruction (information) but explain the text and 
contents of the books to the pupils. The teacher should make 
the pupils do the talking as far as possible. 

51. What is the "Golden Rule" relative to talking in the 
school-room ? 

That the minimitm on the part of the teacher, and the 



AND PRACTICE <>F TEACHING 



\9 



maae&rmim on the pari of the pupil, be the rule and not the 
exception. 

52. What may be said of questioning:* 

Good questioning is essential. Without it the teacher 
does not know what hi> pupils know, what they receive, or 
what they understand. Questioning should stimulate the 
learner and excite the effort to think it should direct the effort 
into the right channel, and it should help children to express 
in suitable language what they learn. 

53. What are its various classes? 

Tentative, Catechetical, Socratic, and Examination. The 
iirst is employed at the introduction of a topic in order to dis- 
cover what is known. It also makes apparent to the children 
their needs, and prepares them to receive. The second has 
for its office the duty of making children understand. It is a 
kind of cross-questioning after an exhaustive fashion, in which 
the teacher and pupil find how far a thing is not understood; 
and in which the questions arc so ordered as to place matters 
clearly, and get that activity of mind by which the subject 
will be thoroughly apprehended. It is the most effective of 
the teacher's gifts. 

54. Describe Socratic questioning. 

Its purpose is the development of some subject in the 
mind of the pupil as the result of a series of inferences from 
something that he already knows. It starts with a question 
which the pupil can not answer, and then leads him step by 
step from some known fact till he discovers the answer for 
himself. 

55. When is Examination questioning used? 

• At the end of a lesson, to brinsr out its broad features and 



50 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



most essential parts, and to bring these together as a whole. 
A good rule in all questioning is, to vary the forms, so that 
the child may attend to the sense rather than to the words. 

56. Why are " leading "questions," or questions that can be 
answered by Yes or No, objectional? 

"Leading questions" are useful in recitation when it is 
desirable to have a pupil commit himself when he refuses pur- 
posely or otherwise to come to the point. But they are usually 
objectionable : First, because they provoke very little effort on 
the part of the pupil as to thought, and none at all in the ex- 
pression of it. If there is no effort required in the recitation, 
no effort will be made for it. Second, because the teacher has 
to do all the reciting, and it is not his business to recite. 

57. What is meant be the term Exposition.'' 

It is the complement of questioning. Some things must 
be told. They are facts, which, if not known, no questioning 
can reveal; and there are ideas which the child might discover, 
but which would not repay the labor. Hence there will 
always be a demand for instances, explanations, descriptions, 
and analogies. In these there may be sometimes lengthened 
statement, the aim being to give power of attention, of fol- 
lowing what is said, and of retaining it. But this practice 
ought to be joined to that of requiring the reproduction of the 
statement either orally or on paper. As a rule, a stream of 
talk must not be indulged. The old comparison of a child's 
mind to a narrow-necked phial should be remembered. Pour 
in drop by drop, little by little, it may be filled, when a con- 
tinued stream would run to waste. 

58. State your opinion of what a child of average ability 
should accomplish in the first year of its school year. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 51 

• 

It should be able to read easy words of two syllables at 
sight, and should be able to write plainly with slate or lead 
pencil. It should be able to count to one hundred, and know 
all the combinations of numbers to one hundred. It should 
also have a small stock of small accomplishments, such as tell- 
ing the time, the day of the week, month of the year, name of 
county, name of township, name of the President, Governor 
of the State, grade of its school, be able to make " small 
change," etc. 

59. What do you understand by " unconscious tuition" ? 
Upon what does its character or quality depend? 

Perhaps my idea of "unconscious tuition" can best be 
illustrated. One gloomy, rainy day, at the noon recess, one 
of my pupils, a bright, precocious child about eleven, said to 
me: " Tell us something to play." I replied: "Suppose we 
play school and I will be your scholar." And when I'm 
teacher may I do as you do?" This was a poser,. but I said 
"yes." 

So school began, after the superintendent, writing- 
teacher, and music-teacher had been selected in high glee. 
Soon after school had begun, the superintendent came in, nod- 
ded to the teacher, took a chair, tipped it back, crossed his 
legs, stroked his beard, and quietly observed the state of 
affairs, taking out a small book after a while and making notes 
with perfect solemnity. The writing and music teachers were 
faithfully imitated, sometimes with cruel exactness. But the 
teacher of the school was simply abominable. I could hear 
the tones of my own voice, could recognize my peculiarities 
and movement. There stood my tormentor, doing just as I 
did, with an air of defiance, unpropitious and implacable, the 
tones of her voice having a peculiarly grating quality, an 



5- 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



edge on every remark, — offensive ones not being the excep- 
tion; a caustic something in every utterance, and an air of ex- 
pecting rebellion. All this tartness and irritability seemed 
so unnecessary to an observer as to be positively amusing. 
So my pupils taught me unconsciously, what I had taught 
them in a like manner — the weakness of my own character. 
Since then, I have known myself to sit in one of the child- 
ren's desks after school and wonder how I would like to be a 
child again and have a teacher just like myself. So far, it 
has never seemed an alluring prospect. 

A GENUINE EXAMINATION PAPER. 

60. What is the best evidence of thorough instruction upon 
the part of the teacher? 

The mental grade of the reading class. " Of all knowl- 
edge and mental training, reading is in our day the principal 
means, and reading aloud intelligently the unmistakable, if 
not the only, sign.'' 1 — Richard Grant White. 

61. Should the teacher make special preparation for the 
reading class? 

Yes. He should be familiar with the pronunciation of 
every word, including its literal and received meaning. He 
should give the pupil the history of the author and some of 
his prominent characteristics, — this will add to the interest; 
should awaken thought in the mind of the pupils, — this will 
secure interest. It matters not how simple the lesson may be, 
previous preparation is indispensible. Previous study will 
add new power and generate better methods, by means of 
which success will be insured. The teacher will become in- 
dependent, self-reliant, and a " law unto himself." As a 
requisite essential to success, however, theteacher of reading 
slumld he a good, rentier. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 53 

62. How may the teacher succeed in giving instruction in 
reading? 

If you have a fault, attend to it, and overcome it by 
practice. Much time must be taken in correcting bad habits 
of reading, but you must take the time. And whatever you 
do, be sure to teach the pupils to do it in the right way. If 
the teacher wishes to succeed, he must learn how intonation 
and articulation are taught. Before he can teach it, he must 
learn it, and it can only be acquired through study. Then if 
your pupils have unnatural tones, make them repeat after 
your sentences and whole passages. This will insure correct 
pronunciation, distinctness of utterance and expression. 

63. What is the most common error among readers — teacher 
and pupil? 

Faulty pronunciation. More errors are made in orthoepy 
than is generally supposed. Test yourself with such words 
as Arab, orthoepy, vagary, idea, syncrasy, discipline, adver- 
tisement, interesting, withe, awful, preferable, Arabian, influ- 
ence (*?) design, rise (noun), and hygiene, and then consult 
the dictionary to verify your accent and syllabication. 

64. What may be said of the reading classes of our schools? 
A great amount of teaching in reading is a positive in- 
jury to schools, and all because the teacher does not know 
how to teach. " Practice makes perfect;" rapidity and cor- 
rectness are attained only through frequent repetition. 

65. Should pupils be required to commit the definitions in 
the primary reading-books to memory? 

No; but we would insist that the pupils understand the 
meaning of the words used. A definition is a general truth, 



54 ,4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

a deduction; children should be taught primary truths, and, 
as their reason develops, deduce the definitions, rules, and 
principles. Develop correct ideas; then give definitions. A 
great many teachers have been amazed, shocked, and, in all 
probability almost disgusted at the absurd or ludicrous 
answers given by pupils to those required book definitions; — 
the result of an attempt to develop logical reasoning in an 
immature mind. 

66. How would you instruct a class using the second reader? 
The true teacher will have no particular set or routine 

method. His main object should be to secure distinct articu- 
lation; cultivate natural tones and delivery; require pupils to 
take a proper position; cultivate their powers of perception 
and language, by questions on the subject matter of the les- 
son; teach use of principal punctuation marks; exercise the 
class in spelling, pronouncing, and defining words of the les- 
son. He should occasionally give a drill in concert reading, 
the pupils reading a sentence after the teacher or some mem- 
ber of the class; the pronunciation of difficult words, ajid the 
explanation of new points in the next lesson. 

67. What variations may be used in the reading lessons? 

The teacher may in the course of his reading, find an 
article or a story which he would like to have his pupils enjoy 
with him. This may serve two purposes. Perhaps he may 
have in his school a pupil who is addicted to some bad habit; 
or a spirit of insubordination or discontent or laziness may 
be creeping into the school room; or he may wish to inspire 
the pupils with nobler aspirations and to prompt better im- 
pulses. In any of these or similar cases, the reading of some 
article may produce the desired effect. Sometimes it may be 
well to have one of the pupils bring in something he has 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



55 



found, and let him read it to the school, and let him comment 
on it. After such an article has been read, it may be well to 
have the entire school engage in a general talk about it. Or, 
it may be advisable to say nothing, leaving each one to draw 
from it what benefit he can. 

68. Give general rules for conducting a reading class. 

Every reading class is a literature class. It is not an 
elocution class. To secure good tones and inflections, give 
the pupils time in reading a passage to comprehend it. Never 
"mind the elocution. Let it take care of itself. By artifice 
and variety, keep the pupils for one week on a passage you 
have usually read at a lesson. Let the whole interest and 
study he upon its thoughts and its literary mechanism. In- 
vestigate the capitals, the spelling, the punctuation, the para- 
graphing. Outline it. Instead of reading, let the pupils 
tell it. Be patient here. Do not judge what can he done by 
the first attempts. Let the pupils stumble and stutter as they 
will. Don't scold or disapprove. They are probably doing- 
better than you could. Instead of reading, let the pupils 
bring their slates, and in five, ten, or fifteen minutes, write 
what they can remember of the passage. Let them read their 
own efforts. Don't criticise too closely. Let the elocution go. 

69. What is the first step toward the introduction of the 
pupil into the study of literature'/ 

The memorizing of literary gems. This can be done in 
the primary department or the primary classes of any school. 
A knowledge of the author, his life, or his labors is of sec- 
ondary consideration at first. Engravings of noted authors 
can be obtained for a trifling sum of money— cut from cata- 
logues at no cost whatever— and tacked or pasted upon some 
convenient piece of the wall of the school-room. In the in- 



.4 QUIZ-BOOK n.V THE THEORY 



termediate grades this instruction can be advanced by the 
teacher placing upon the blackboard, daily for a few weeks, 
favorite extracts and familiar quotations from noted authors 
giving the dates of their birth and death, supplemented by 
some information relative to their lives, etc. The pupil is then 
ready to commence the study in some short course of liter- 
ature, there being some two or three excellent manuals pub- 
lished that are admirably adapted for this purpose. Larger 
and more exhaustive treatises follow as a matter of course. 

70. What may be said of primary work in the district 
schools? 

The subject is more or less neglected, both in theory and 
practice. Journals neglect to insist upon these advanced 
methods being carried into the primary work of the ungraded 
schools. Yet it can be done and is done by good teachers in 
many parts of the country. The teacher who reads edu- 
cational journals, and visits our best schools in search of new 
ideas and methods, will find them; will learn what to do with 
the little folks, as well as older pupils. Too many teachers 
of "district" schools think if the child has a primer, with 
a slate and pencil, he has all that is necessary. Very little 
work, if any, is given to keep those little brains and hands 
busy when not reciting. The child, left to himself, will 
draw pictures that mean nothing. Too little attention is 
paid to writing, and numbers. Some schools of this grade are 
the veriest shams; others show a degree of proficiency and 
advancement that is not excelled by the best graded school. 

71. How should instruction be given in the third reader? 

When the third reader is reached, instructions in phonics 
and diacritical marks should be given for the purpose of 
giving command of the dictionary. Require the children to 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



57 



face the class while reading. You can not expect a child to 
read to a blank wall with any degree of animation. He 
should read in the spirit of " I believe this, and I am going to 
make those fellows down there believe it." 

72. How is the dictionary to be used? 

Practically, and not vaguely and theoretically. Proba- 
bly no school exercise is more profitable, when properly con- 
ducted, than a drill in the right use of words. To know just 
what word to use to express the exact shade of meaning in- 
tended is no mean accomplishment; and the person who is 
not reasonably familiar with words and their uses is very 
liable to make very ludicrous and embarrassing mistakes. 

72. When is such a drill to be given? 

It comes naturally in connection with the reading lessons. 
It is here more than anywhere else that the acquaintance of 
unfamiliar words is made, and that occasions arise for show- 
ing the various shades of meaning and the peculiar uses of 
many words given in the dictionaries as synonomous terms. 
It is necessary, then, to familiarize pupils with the use of the 
dictionary in finding the meaning and pronounciation of 
words; but these, unless supplemented by a careful drill from 
the teacher, will be found strangely misleading. 

73. What illustration can be given of these errors? 

Such as have actually occured in the school-room. For 
instance: 

Tandem=One behind another: "The scholars sit tan- 
dem in school." 

Akimbo=With a crook: " I saw a dog with an akimbo 
in his tail." 



^8 -4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Athletic = Strong: "The vinegar was too athletic to be 

used." 

Frantic = Wild: "I picked a bouquet of frantic flowers." 
Composure =Calmness: "The composure of the day 

was remarkable." 

74. How is this fault to be corrected? 

By giving an original illustration of this principle, rule, 
or usage. It is hardly necessary to carry out the old sugges- 
tion of having pupils underline with a light pencil mark the 
designated number of unfamiliar words and expressions in 
the day's reading, as it is a habit that detracts from neatness, 
but instead place upon the blackboard the required list. Some 
of the progressive readers of the day contain many selected 
sentences from the lesson with the words in italics whose 
synonyms are required. 

75. What are the advantages of this plan ? 

It is an accurate test as to whether the definition found 
by the pupil is a suitable one for the place, and, if so, 
whether it is the best one for the place. It teaches the pupil, 
therefore, to exercise his judgment in the choice of words 
to express a given thought or shade of meaning. One pupil 
has found a definition which does not express the full force 
of the word, a second has found the definition of the same 
word when used in an entirely different sense, while a third 
may have selected a definition which expresses the thought 
in a stronger sense than the author intended. 

76. By what results is this followed? 

An attempt to substitute the various definitions for the 
words or expressions in question will usually make their 
various defects apparent. It will also be found that when 



AND PRACTKE OF TEACHING. 59 

certain definitions are substituted the order of the words 
must be slightly changed, that different or additional adjuncts 

must be used, or that the words must be followed by different 
prepositions. In short, it furnishes many of the advantages 
usually attributed to the study of Latin. 

77. Mention further benefits. 

It retains the interest of the pupils in a second reading 
of a given lesson. Every experienced teacher knows how 
difficult this is by the ordinary methods of study and recita- 
tion. When the lesson has once been read, it usually becomes 
an old story, and is studied and recited with*indifference ever 
after. Hut by this method the second reading is usually more 
interesting than the first, and it enables the teacher to carry 
out practically that best of school maxims — to make !i<i*te 
slowly. 

78. Should newspapers be used in the school? 

To assist the studies of children by having them read 
the newspapers in the public schools at stated hours, and 
under the supervision of teachers, is not a new idea. It is on 
trial- in different parts of the country, and has found a warm, 
practical advocate in Superintendent Luckey, of the Pittsburg 
public schools. In a convention of Pennsylvania teachers 
that gentleinan opposed the use of any and all spelling books, 
because he contended that a word standingby itself was dead, 
while in a sentence it had life. He ridiculed the reading 
lessons to be found in the school books, and wanted the 
newspapers substituted for the prosy readers dealing with 
unrealities and teaching nothing. 

70. How can this theory be applied in the district school? 
By having marked on the blackboard a special space 



6o A QUIZ-BaoK ON THE THEORY 

headed "News Bulletin." If access is had to daily papers 
the bulletin should indicate this. In places " far remote" 
where the weekly is the only news visitor a summary of the 
week's events should be placed under the "Bulletin" on 
Monday morning by the teacher to which the pupil's atten- 
tion should be called and supplemental information given by 
the teacher. One-half of the school children in the United 
States to-day do not know the name of the Vice President. 

80. To what will this lead? 

To instruction in general information. A knowledge of 
common statistical, geographical, and historical facts, w r ith 
some of the more simple statements that can readily be 
adduced from the sciences, arousing the child's interest, culti- 
vating habits of research, culminating in accuracy of scholar- 
ship, and giving him that stock of outside-of-the-text-book 
information every educated boy and girl should possess. In 
several of the States of the Mississippi Valley, this is done by 
placing weekly upon the blackboard a set of live or ten so- 
called "queer queries." 

81. Has instruction in "phonics" proved beneficial in con- 
nection with the reading lessons? 

In one city at least (Boston) the difference between their 
use and disuse has become very apparent for since the res- 
ignation of Superintendent Philbrick, at which time they 
were discontinued, the universal testimony there is to the 
effect that the standard of good reading does not reach its 
former excellence. Their use has been abused, however, in 
many schools by incompetent instructors. 

82. Of what benefit is etymology to the reader? 

It aids in the use of words with precision and accuracy 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 61 



when we know their history as well as their present meaning. 
It is the science of etymons — that is, of true primitive forms, 
and traces words from language to language back to their 
origins. 

83. What are the three forms of reading? 

Mechanical, intelligent, and intellectual reading. The 
latter is not only comprehending clearly and definitely the 
author's meaning, but it is also a ready recognition of the 
relation of that meaning, a prompt assimilation of it, and a 
subsequent growth. This is the kind of reading that reigns 
in the student's "den" and the philosopher's study. 

84. What is meant by personation in reading? 

The identification of the reader with two or more persons 
represented by necessary changes of the voice. 

85. Is this ordinarly taught in schools? 

To a very small extent only, but as a quality of the high- 
est standard of reading known as elocution, it is deserving of 
more notice. The teacher may furnish an ordinary illustra- 
tion by alternating in reading with them some of the common 
dialogues to be found in most readers. Elocution as a special 
study should be taught as a specialty. It is an art well worth 
the undivided attention of any teacher. There is probably 
no study requiring a more complicated mental action than 
reading aloud so as to impart all the emotional accessories of 
the sense; and no other one tends more rapidly toward devel- 
oping and refining the sensibilities. 

3P>. What are " reading drills" ? 

Those which exercise and tend to improve the pupil's 



62 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

powers in giving the various forms of inflection, emphasis, 
and pitch; drills in correct articulation and enunciation as in 

"Amidst the mists, 
And coldest frosts," etc.; 

Rapidity of tone and correctness in " Pretty Pluma placed a 
pie upon a pile of plates. Where is the pretty pewter platter 
Pluma placed the pie upon?'.' 

Closeness of tone can be developed by having the pupil 
repeat in concert and singly, some exercise similar to the fol- 
lowing : " Fanny Finch fried fourteen floundering frogs for 
Francis Fowler's father." 

87. Give your method of instructing primary classes in read- 
ing. 

Too much stress can hardly be laid upon the importance 
of using the best methods in teaching children to read; for 
this is its first introduction into the realm of knowledge, and 
the effect of good or bad teaching will show itself plainly in 
subsequent study. Begin by using the child's faculty of obser- 
vation to aid you in giving it new ideas. Teach it in familiar 
conversation by easy questions, by the use of pictures, to ex- 
press itself readily concerning objects that it knows well and 
sees daily. Then begin the process of teaching to read by 
printing names of familiar objects upon the board. The 
child is to be shown the word in connection with the object 
or its picture, so that the form of the word will be joined in 
its thought, and known as soon as perceived, anywmere, to 
belong to the object indicated. Print these words on the 
blackboard until the children know them well. Then begin 
the teaching of the letters composing the words, and, while 
so doing, teach the children to print them on their slates. 
Keep a list of these words upon the blackboard, and as fast 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 63 

as new words are mastered, add them to the list. Always 
bear in mind what reading is. It is not merely the pronun- 
ciation of* words, though of course that is the first step 
toward it. When the child commences reading exercises, train 
him carefully upon pronunciation. Teach him to pronounce 
every word correctly, and be sure that he understands its 
meaning. Then teach him to read the sentence, that is, to 
express the thought which it conveys to him, in the most 
natural manner. 

88. What is one express fault in the pupil's reading? 

The mispronunciation of compound forms, where the 
sound of the vowel is changed from that of the single or 
simple word, as illustrated in there and therefore; main and 
maintain; gain and again; child and children; clean and 
cleanliness, and in such arbitrary terms as "pretty," "bou- 
quet," "depot," "buoy." 

89. What is the object of a recitation in Arithmetic? 

It should be to acquire practical skill and exact thinking, 
and for this reason the pupils should be required to bring the 
problems of the lesson into the class neatly solved and ar- 
ranged for inspection, while their knowledge of the topic 
under consideration should be thoroughly tested by judicious 
questioning and by the solution of problems not embraced in 
the text. 

90. Explain the Grube method. 

It consists of training beginners from five to six years of 
age on combination of numbers, not exceeding ten, in addi- 
tion, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Begin with 
counters, such as small blocks of wood, shells, corn, beans, or 



64 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

pebbles, and use them for two or three months, until the pupils 
can make the combinations without the aid of objects. 

91. What should be taught the second year? 
Instruction should be given in decimals in connection 

with whole numbers, at least to the extent of adding and 
subtracting, and of multiplying and dividing them by whole 
numbers. Limit: First step, tenths; second, hundredths; 
third, thousandths. Give frequent drills in addition — the 
operation in which more mistakes are made than in any other. 

92. Describe the plan of procedure after this. 

In the second and third years common fractions may be 
taught, limited mainly to halves, thirds, fourths, etc., to 
twelfths. Illustrate simple operations in the four rules by 
means of apples, crayons, or lines upon the blackboard. Use 
the blackboard yourself for the purpose of giving explanation 
or models of methods. 

93. Which operations in arithmetic are essential? 

Those which all pupils should understand are the four 
rules — common and decimal fractions, the tables of weights 
and measures, and interest. The rest of the text-book may 
be omitted without much loss by all but high-school pupils. 

94. How do you conduct a recitation in arithmetic? 

Instill into their minds, tirst, the important fact that accu- 
racy is vastly more necessary than rapidity. One hour a day 
is amply sufficient for this study. More dependence should 
be placed upon slate and blackboard drill in school, than upon 
problems to be worked at home. The pupils should be drilled 
at the boards, a new subject thoroughly explained to the class, 
and if tin- class is large one-half may be engaged in slate 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 6^ 

work while the remainder are at the blackboard. Insist upon 
neat work, with souk- such arbitrary division as a brace or 
curved line separating the work of the pupils, an accurate 
solution, and a neatly-worded correct analysis of the problem. 

95. How should " catch-questiQns" he treated? 

Do not waste your time or that of the pupils upon them. 
They will do very well for the "puzzle department" of some 
literary medium. Additionally, it is well to remember that a 
considerable amount of that which passes in text-books under 
the name of arithmetic, such as circulating decimals and other 
mathematical curiosities, consists largely of schoolmaster's 
exercises of neither practical nor disciplinary value. 

96. What may be said of object teaching? 

The teaching of each number, definition, principle, rule, 
process or problem, is a language, as well as an object lesson; 
in other words, each number, definition, etc., presents an 
opportunity to teach language. This method may be absurd, 
however, and one of the leading teachers of the country has 
placed this dictum on record that "one of* the crying evils of 
the time in the subject of primary arithmetic is the too great 
use of objects." 

97. What must be .remembered in teaching "number"? 

That most children know very little of* the subject when 
they enter school, and, consequently, the first step should 
be taken with great care. After the child has been made 
thoroughly at home in the school-room the teacher should 
ascertain by careful and repeated tests just what it knows of 
numbers. This examination should be made under the most 
favorable circumstances, and extend over a period of not less 
than two weeks. 



66 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

98. Is primary teaching of the utmost importance? 

Yes; the moral is so plain there can be no disputing it. 
Since twice as man}' pupils attend the primary schools as go 
to any other department, and about one. half of them go 
nowhere else, the primary schools deserve and demand the 
largest share of attention, and their efficiency should be raised 
to the highest standard of excellence, though it should be 
necessary to lessen some of the expenses of the other and 
higher schools. 

99. What are some of the needs of the primary teacher? 

First of all he needs patience; yes, patience first and 
last. Self-control, so akin to patience, is another important 
requisite. He who can not control himself is not fit to 
govern others. Tact, that quality which all teachers must 
have, is particularly useful here. Knowledge of child nature, 
one of the most important qualifications, is least appreciated 
by many. Interest in the work. Freedom. Have plans of 
your own and carry them into execution. Do nothing just 
alike twice. Whatever you do, have a change. Give your 
pupils something new, and they will work. There is great 
need of preparation in this department. " To teach a little 
child well is truly a great thing." 

100. What should be taught a child at first; the process of 
writing numbers, or the rule of notation? 

The rule-of notation, being simply the plan of procedure, 
will be taught in and through the process. Rules in arith- 
metic are only rationally taught by having the pupils solve 
problems under those rules, under the teacher's guidance, step 
by step. 

101. What are the results to be obtained by the study of 
Mental Arithmetic? 



AND PRACTKE OF TEACHING. 67 

(1) Distinct mental conceptions; (2) clear views of cause 
and effect; (3) certainty in the course of reasoning; (4) pre- 
cision in language; (5) a thorough understanding of fractions; 
(6) rapidity in the solution of questions; (7) artifices for 
abridging labor; and (8) cultivation of memory. 

102. Mention some of the " common artifices" that may be 
used. 

The use of aliquot parts is not sufficiently treated in 
most schools, especially as regards the decimal division of U. 
S. money. Sixty-two and a half cents equal live-eights of a 
dollar. Then, what is the cost of 168 bushels of com at 62£ 
cents a bushel? By rapid mental calculation, five-eighths of 
168 equals £105, the answer. Consequently, what does 136 
pounds of butter cost at 37^ cents a pound? The product of 
1H by 1U is easily ascertained from a knowledge of geomet- 
rical principles to be 132^; that is 11 X12-f^=132^. These 
artifices are of invaluable use to teacher and pupil. They 
should also have memorized the product of whole numbers of 
the same kind to 25 times 25. 

103. What is the best system of mental arithmetic? 

It is that one which shows the pupils how to w r ork 
systematically. It requires mental work, but little slate- w^ork 
except to record answers. 

104. What is the value of mental analysis in teaching arith- 
metic? 

No words can convey a full appreciation of the impor- 
tance of mental arithmetic. Only those who have experi- 
enced the transition from the old methods to the new can 
fully realize the supreme value of this study. Indeed, it is 
generally believed that the method of mental arithmetic is 
the greatest improvement in modern education; and the 



68 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

world owes a debt of gratitude to Warren Colburn, its 
author, which it can never pay. 

105. Of what practical benefit, if any, are the G. C. I>., 
and L. C. M.V 

The former is used in reducing fractions to their lowest 
terms, and the solution of some practical questions, as, e. g. — 
what is the least number of square blocks of granite that 
will cover a floor 7 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 4 in.? (Ans. 713). 
The latter is of much use in changing fractions to the least 
common denominator, and in solving mechanical ami astro- 
nomical questions. 

106. What is the smtplest method of finding the greatest 
common divisor? 

There are two principles commonly used in Algebra, 
which may be very profitably applied to Arithmetic: 

1. "If one of the quantities contains a factor not found 
in the other, it may be cancelled without affecting the com- 
mon divisor.'" 

Find the G. C. D. of 48 and 60. 

48 60—12 G. C. D. 

It is evident at a glance that 5 is a factor of 60, but not 
of 48. Dropping the factor 5, from 60, the other factor, 12, 
is seen to be the G. C. D. « 

Find the G. C. D. of 70, 154 and 819. 

70 154 819. 

35 77 7 G. C. D. 

Dropping the factor 2 from 70 and 154, 7 is seen to be 
a factor of 35 and 77. It is also a Divisor of 819, and is the 
G. C. D. This method is simple; it saves time, and gives 
the pupil a drill in rapid mental calculation. 

107. In division by fraction, how do you explain the inver- 
sion of the divisor? 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



69 



There are several solutions that can be given but proba- 
bly the following simple method can be used with good suc- 
cess. Taking any ordinary problem as 4-5-5-3-4 or 1-^2-3, 
explain to the class that inverting the divisor is simply a 
short method of reducing to a common denominator and 
comparing numerators, or dividing one numerator by 
another. For example: (4-5-K3-4. 20 = com. denom.) that 
is 16-20-^ 15-20 = 16-15 or 1 1-15. Using the same fractions, 
and inverting the divisor we obtain 4-5X4-3=16-15=1 1-15. 

108. Which should be taught first, long or short division, 
and why? 

Long division; because every step of the process can be 
put before the learner in figures, while short division is a 
contracted method, and leaves nearly all the work, especially 
the multiplication and subtraction to be done mentally. 

109. Which should have precedence, instruction in common 
or decimal fractions, and why? 

Decimal fractions, so far as the system goes, because it 
is easier — being merelv an extension to the right of the 
point of the notation system for whole numbers. Number 
rlasses should learn, however, the practical use of a few of 
the simplest common fractions as ^, £, etc., before they get 
to any kind of fractions as usually given in arithmetics. 

110. What are the "new methods" in arithmetic? 

Mental arithmetic, as practically illustrated, is as fol- 
lows: The teacher recites rapidly a series of mathematical 
perplexities as for this way. "I had six apples, I took one 
away, added five, divided by two, squared them, gave away 
live, lost one, sold two, bought ten and ten and live and four 
and three, and lost seven, and divided them all with Kate 
and J£nnie and Tom and Ned. How many did they have, 



70 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

. , 1 

and bow many were left?" There is a pause of about thirty 
seconds, and then one calls out that be has it, and then 
another and another, till they all say they have solved the 
problem. Allowing a minute to elapse, one pupil is called 
upon for the answer, and then it is put to the vote of the 
school whether or not the answer is right. 

111. How are the tables of weights and measures taught/ 

There are tin and wooden measures with a pail of water 
and a bushel of bran, ranged on the table before the class. 
The teacher holds up the smallest tin measure and asks what 
it is. Some say it is a quart, others declare it to be a pint. 
After some delay it is decided to be a gill. "Can any one 
spell it or write it on the board?" This is done, and the 
next step is to experiment with the measure. One of the 
girls fills it with water and makes a statement about it: "I 
have one gill of water." Having obtained a unit of meas- 
ure, the next is taken, and the pint is considered by filling it 
with water by means of the gill measure, and counting the 
number of gills required to fill it. For dry measure, the 
bran is used instead. 

112. How is instruction given in measures of length? 

By means of tape stretched along the wall. Upon this 
tape the pupils measure off the foot, the yard, the rod. Each 
child is provided with a foot rule as part of his school appa- 
ratus, and it is frequently used in the various lessons. The 
study of the yard and rod grows out of this, and they get 
what no one who merely learns by rote that " twelve inches 
make one foot, three feet one yard," etc., ever can get, — an 
exact and real idea of the yard and rod. From this tape the 
teacher readily brings out a lesson in numbers. For instance, 
she writes on the board: "If I paid $90. 00 for eighteen feet 
of land, how much did three yards cost?" The pupils see 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 7I 



the foot and yard plainly marked off on the tape. They have 
a realizing sense of comparative lengths, and this assists the 
mental process required to solve the question. 

113. How can all arithmetical problems be taught? 

By the blocks, the wet and dry measures, the rules and 
tapes, without once referring to a book. In point of fact, it 
does not appear advisable to use books at all, but to study 
numbers from objects, or by means of the board or stories of 
imaginary transactions from real life. The study of numbers 
is contined to the first four rules, simple fractions, and, per- 
haps, interest. This takes the pupil about half way through 
the grammar school, and it covers all that is required in or- 
dinary business transactions. The tables, addition, multipli- 
cation, weights, etc., are in time all learned, but they are 
placed last and not first. 

114. What are the results of these "new methods"? 

The pupils are probably weak on the " tables," or in the 
mere parrot-like recitation of formulas, but they display a 
degree of quickness, a readiness of memory, comprehension, 
and reasoning, that is remarkable. With shorter questions 
involving two sums in one rapidly spoken sentence, the ans- 
M r ers come in a vollev from the class the instant the sentence 
is finished, showing that the mental processes have been just 
as rapid as the spoken words. Such are the " results" in many 
schools. As the majority of children leave school when 
about half way through the grammar grades, the question 
whether this objective teaching is fitting the boy for his prob- 
able position in life or whether this is the best " schooling" 
for the poor man's child, can only be answered by the facts 
of future years. 



72 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

115. What may be said of the aims of this system? 

They are in the right direction, and that all the aims are 
more or less thoroughly accomplished. First of all, the child 
must be happy. He must be at ease and' pleased with his 
work, or little will be learned, and the training will be slight. 
The child has senses through which he receives all he can 
know, and makes known the thought that is in him. His 
senses must be trained by use; hence the games, the blocks, 
the colors, the music, pictures, and real objects. Imagina- 
tion is perhaps the most valuable mental quality given to hu- 
man beings; it must be cultivated continually, that the mind 
may work quickly and surely. The studies are very limited, 
because reading, writing, and arithmetic, are the tools with 
which the work of the world is performed. These are enough 
for the boy or girl who must leave the school before the gram- 
mar term is over. If he has these, the world of work and 
learning is all before him. 

116. Give an illustration of primary teaching in arithmetic? 

The teacher writes a series of simple sums in addition on 
the board, and the whole school watch her with the keenest 
interest. Now for a grand competition in language, gram- 
mar, arithmetic, and imagination. As soon as the figures are 
set forth a dozen hands are "up." "Well, Jennie?" Jen 
nie rises and says: "I was walking in the fields, and I met 
two butterflies, and then I saw two more, and that made four 
butterflies." "Good." The answer is put under the sum, 
and another child is called. " I had seven red roses and a 
man gave me three white roses, and then I had ten roses." 
By this time the school has caught the spirit of the game. 
Forty hands are up, trying in almost frantic eagerness for a 
chance to bowl over one of the sums and tell a story. Whis- 
pering is plenty. One by one the sums are answered and the 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



73 



quaint stories told. Then all the upper figures of the sums 
are removed, and the lesson is changed to subtraction. Again 
the stories. " I had four red apples, and I gave two away, 
and then I had two apples," etc. Nearly every one mentions 
the color of the articles described. They take their subjects 
from out-of-doors, as if all their thoughts are of the woods,, 
the fields, the street. The most striking feature of the lesson 
is the intense eagerness to tell something, the alertness, the 
free play to the imagination of the pupils, and the absence of 
formality and anything like task or recitation. It is practically 
an exercise in imagination, grammar, language, expression, 
and arithmetic. 

117. What method has been used in teaching Federal 
money ? 

This subject logically follows Decimal Fractions, but as 
many pupils are compelled to leave school to follow business 
pursuits before they reach the Grammar grades, this impor- 
tant practical " study" should be placed in the highest pri- 
mary course, immediately succeeding the four fundamental 
rules. If pupils are instructed to express all amounts of 
United States money in dollars, cents, and mills, they will 
have no difficulty in writing money correctly. When the 
teacher says, ''write twenty-live cents," the pupil will write 
£.250 not .25 merely. Or, if the teacher asks for the writing 
of three dollars, the pupil should write £3.000 and not $3. or 
£3.00. The main advantage or rather, absolute necessity of 
this will be appreciated when division of Federal money is 
reached, especially the case in which money is divided by^ 
money. 

118. , What should be impressed upon the pupils? 

That the dollar mark (*) and decimal point are all impor- 



74 .4 QUIZ-BOOK OX THE THEORY 

tant; and that the work is of no value unless these signs are 
properly placed. If all money be carried out to cents and 
mills there will be no necessity of teaching reduction of Fed- 
eral money, provided the pupils are familiar with the table. 

119. Give an illustration by means of a problem. 

" Add five dollars and two and one-half cents, thirty- 
seven and one half cents, one dollar and sixty-two and one-half 
cents, forty-four cents and three mills, and two dollars and 
fifty-three cents and two mills, and subtract one cent from 
the sum." Have the pupil proceed thus: 

15.025 
.375 

1.625 
.448 

2.532 



10.000 
.010 



Ans. 9.990 

As the class is supposed to have no knowledge of 
Common Fractions, the teacher will instruct pupils to write 
five mills for one-half cent. Teach no other fractions of a 
cent. 

121. How may this subject be extended? 

Drill thoroughly in practical questions involving combi- 
nations of Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication before 
commencing Division. The latter may be classified under 
the following cases: Money divided by an abstract number; 
money divided by a comparatively large abstract number; 
money divided by money; and then form combinations in 



AND PRACTICE <>F TEACHING 



problems similar to this: If 240 pounds of salt cost $6, what 
will 25 pounds cost? 



240)6.000($.025 $.025 

480 25 



1200 125 

1200 50 



Ans. &B.25 or 62^ cents = cost 

of 25 pounds. 

122. How should problems be "worked" by the class? 
When the teacher is instructing the class, all the pupils 

may, of course, solve each question simultaneously. In test- 
ing the school, however, the pupils should always have dif- 
ferent problems, and, when practicable, those involving dif- 
ferent operations. To prevent copying, let all the right.hand 
pupils on each row of desks perform on one involving division, 
while their companions by their side, on the left, are engaged 
upon one involving multiplication; or have the former at work 
upon one division and one multiplication, while the latter use 
two divisions. 

123. To what should special attention be given? 

To problems involving tiro multiplications, and one multi- 
plication and one division, as well as questions of barter and 
exchange. 

124. What is the real arithmetic? 

Mental arithmetic. Written arithmetic is the bringing 
in of slate and pencil, pen and pencil and paper, chalk and 
blackboard, to aid the memory when the numbers become too 
large and too complicated to be carried in the mind. School 
work should aim to accomplish two things: to develop thought 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



and to teach expression. Hence the language used in solving 
problems and in "working examples"" should be correct. The 
expression of an idea is of no less importance than the idea itself. 
For it is from the expression of the idea by another that we 
get an understanding of the character and quality of the idea 
as it exists in the mind. Such expressions as "I" multiplied 
by so-and-so, and it gave me," and so on, are incorrect in 
many, many ways. And yet every superintendent is obliged 
to hear such expressions, and see such work done day after 
day, until his soul grows vexed and his nerves all unstrung. 
Upon inquiry, he finds that those who allow inaccurate 
expressions do not teach mental arithmetic. 

125. How is arithmetic generally taught at the present? 

Written — slate-and-pencil arithmetic — is made the arith- 
metic of the school-room in the town and city. In the dist- 
rict schools the blackboard takes the place of the slate, and 
this is preferable with the higher grades. In both, mental 
arithmetic is being set aside, looked upon as an incumbrance, 
the natural sequence of the subject being made a " hobby" by 
many teachers and then ridden to death. This is wrong. It 
is true that mental and written arithmetic should not be 
looked upon as two separate studies, and treated as two sub- 
jects completely isolated from each other. This is wrong on 
the other extreme. 

126. How should a subject of study be regarded? 

The first point of view relative to a subject taught in the 
school-room and from which it should be regarded, is its value 
as a mind developer and as an element of discipline. The 
second point of view is its utility in the practical every-day 
affairs of life. Formerly mental arithmetic was studied solely 
for the sake of mental discipline, and the idea was not a bad 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



77 



one; it was not a correct one, but it was better than t<> throw 
it away altogether. 

127. What may be said of these two divisions? 

Mental arithmetic should not be dropped entirely as a 
separate study, for it reaches further and further in the way of 
discipline than can be readied by the study of mental and 
written combined. Furthermore, written arithmetic is the 
application of the principles of arithmetic to the practical 
business of life, but mental, arithmetic applies principles 
without reference to anything but the truth. A harmonious 
combination of the two produces the best and well-rounded 
results. 

128. Should problems be solved by rule? 

The old idea of "working arithmetic by rule" has 
exploded. For instance: From the analysis of a question 
we obtain a formula; from the formula we deduce a rule. 
Now, if we can analyze, what use is there of a rule ? We do 
this by analysis. The result is the principle made into an 
instrument with which to work out results. Instead of ma- 
chines, we should aim to make our pupils machinists. 

129. What is displayed by analysis? 

The test, efficiency and thoroughness of the comprehen- 
sion. If the lesson includes a half-dozen problems, require 
each member of the class to prepare this lesson, writing out 
in full — or as fully as necessary — on slate or paper, the analy- 
sis of each, and let this work be brought to the recitation by 
the class, and while a question is being placed on the black- 
board, the class may recite from their slates or papers. 

130. What language should be used? 

It is just as necessary that the language used in an arith- 
metical recitation be elegant and accurate as that it be elegant 



78 -4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

and accurate in a recitation in Grammar, for expression is not 
only a test, but also a help to correct thinking. 

131. Of what does the solution of a problem consist? 

1. The statement and question; 2. The analysis; 3. 
The conclusion, — -or, really, the answer to the question asked 
in connection with the statement. This analysis may be, and 
should be, shortened and condensed just as soon as the pupil 
is able to do it, and do it intelligently and correctly. 

132. Why are language and arithmetic the two most import- 

ant subjects taught in the school? 

Language is important, because any amount of learning 
is of little use if it cannot be expressed. Arithmetic, because 
it is necessary in the transaction of such business as must be 
done by every one, no matter what his calling may be. 

133. What has been taught for arithmetic? 

Figures, instead of the science of numbers. Go into any 
average school, and ask to be shown a number, and the child 
will go to the board and write a figure; ask for a fraction and 
he will write "-J" — which is no more a fraction than the word 
"cat" is a cat. We teach figures, and the bright children 
apply them to numbers. Give to the ordinary pupil this 
question: 

I have a cord of wood, sticks four feet long, to be cut 
into three lengths for a stove, for which I pay $2; if I want 
another cord cut into four lengths, how much proportionately 
should I pay? And he will answer with edifying assurance. 
$2.66f — which is wrong, of course. If I pay two dollars for 
two cuts, three cuts are worth three dollars; but the child 
didn't think he used figures. 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



134. What is the correct use of mental arithmetic? 

To develop the faculty of ready and sharp logic that is 
required in the applications of arithmetical process to the 
business of common life. A mental habit of readiness and 
accuracy in the processes of exact reasoning is of the highest 
value. We need this kind of mental drill, and greatly 
lament its general absence in the daily work of the common 
schools of to-day. 

135. Why has mental arithmetic fallen into disfavor? 
Through an improper use of Warren Colburn's admira- 
ble book. Teachers came to require of their pupils mere 
routine work and formulated processes of analysis in recita- 
tion — absolutely foreign to the author's design. In many 
instances children were assigned daily lessons from this book 
and required to commit not only the examples, but the 
formula of explanation, to memory. Any single deviation 
from a prescribed form was treated as a failure on the part of 
the pupil. Such absurd and unphilosophical teaching of 
mental arithmetic served to secure its general abolition. 
The foolish abuse of the principle of analytic induction 
caused its abandonment, and the substitution of books and 
methods of a diluted and undisciplinary character. 

136. Are errors taught in arithmetic? 

Yes; and perhaps necessarily from *'the eternal fitness of 
things." The primary pupil is instructed that 4+6X2 — 74- 
9-^-3=7^, but the correct answer to this combination is (4+ 
[6X2] — 7+[9-^3] ) 12; from the principle derived from the appli- 
cation of higher mathematics that precedence is first given to 
the quantities connected by the sign of division, then those 
united by the multiplication sign, and finally the disposition 
of those governed by the plus and minus sign, no priority of 
use in the two latter changing the final result. 



So A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

137. Should arithmetical "curiosities" be used in the school- 
room ? 

The wise teacher will avoid everything having the 
appearance of educational jugglery; but frequently in the 
communication of general information in the five or ten 
minute "talks," that many of the best and leading teachers 
in the country are in the habit of giving to their pupils, 
reference may be made to "lightning addition, 1 " obtaining a 
repetition of figures by the multiplication of the nine digits, 
circulating decimals, casting out the 9"s and the 7's, and an 
explanation of the origin of the signs. 

138. Give the origin of the arithmetical signs. 

The sign of addition, called plus, is derived from the 
initial letter of the word plus. Thus, P P T +, each time 
more carelessly written. The sign of subtraction, called 
minus, was derived from the word minus, which was con- 
tracted into the letters m n s with a horizontal line drawn 
above them to denote contraction. Then the letters m n s 
were omitted, which left the short horizontal line [— ]. The 
multiplication sign was obtained by changing the sign of 
addition into the letter X; that is, the perpendicular cross 
into the oblique cross, and this change was made because 
multiplication is the short way of performing many 
additions. 

139. What is the source of the division sign? 

Its origin is a little obscure, but it is said to have been 
employed to save room on the printed page, and preserve its 
regularity. The dividend was written at the left of the sign, 
and the divisor at the right, and a dot was written in the 
places of the dividend and divisor. Thus 12-*-3. 

The radical si^n was derived from the letter r, the 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHlSd 



initial letter of radix. Thus \9. The sign of equality was 
first used by Robert Recorde, physician, in his Whetstone of 
Witte, published in 1557. He gives his reason in his own 
quaint manner, in the following words: "And to ayoid the 
tediouse repetition of these wordes, is equalle to, I will settle, 
as I doe often in woorkeuse, a paire of paralleles or Gemowe 
lines of one lengthe thus =, because noe 2 thinges can be 
more equalle." * 

140. What is the first step in teaching number? 

To ascertain, by careful examination, just how much the 
child knows of number — i. e., just his acquired power of 
limiting of objects of the same kind, to how many; just how 
many limitations of this kind he has acquired. His knowl- 
edge of number has been acquired through some necessity 
of limiting the number of objects he handles or sees. Thus 
a child in the kindergarten, who is constantly handling 
objects — splints, pieces of paper, blocks, etc., placing them 
in different forms, such as triangles, squares, oblongs, etc., is 
gaining unconsciously, in the best possible way, knowledge 
of number. 

141. Of what does the child's real knowledge of number 
consist? 

In recognizing numbers of things at sight. Ability to 
count must not be confounded with the true knowledge of 
things. Counting is generally ordinal; his four or five is apt 
to be nothing but the fourth or fifth. He may know numbers 
without knowing their names or the words that recall them. 
The names of numbers are frequently learned very early, and 

* For further notice of the cariosities of mathematics, explanation of deriva- 
tions, etc.. see No. 18. Dime Series of Question Books. 



82 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

many children learn to count as far as 100 before they know- 
even the letters of the alphabet, and long before they are 
placed in school at all. 

142. How is a knowledge of things and their names together 
to be learned? 

Hold up three objects and say, " Bring me so many," is 
the first and easiest test. If this is successful, hold up a 
number of objects (not more than four), and say, "Bring me 

" (naming the number). Third test: hold up a number 

of objects and ask, " How many?" Fourth: request the child 
to bring you so many, giving the number without showing the 
object. 

143. What instruction follows this? 

As soon as the children have a clear idea of more or less. 



which is the true idea of quantity, they should be taught to 
make small calculations. Thev are naturally fond of such 
exercises and acquire a facility in their performance. At the 
outset they should be led to exercise their own skill in '.'doing 
examples" adapted to their age and capacity. They should 
be required to observe and explain their method at arriving 
at results. If these methods are not the wisest, the teacher 
should act the part o± a sagacious helper, and show his skill 
in imparting better ways. 

144. What are the "facts" regarding this youthful instruc- 
tion? 

That children at a very early age may be taught a great 
variety of the most useful combinations of numbers. No 
exercise is better adapted to give strength and maturity to 
the mind than one in arithmetical calculation. It develops 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. S3 

the reasoning powers, and satisfies the judgment, from the 
fact that the result is absolutely certain. 

145. What is one cause of the confused knowledge of arith- 
metic found in older pupils'? 

It results in greater part from the attempt to teach too 
much during the first year. Too many teachers argue that 
the child can not reason, and therefore he must be taught the 
language, before the things. All this unreason arises from 
the attempt, that tradition forces upon us to teach far more 
than the child can learn. There is no time in the child's life 
when he can not see, judge, generalize, and imagine, providing 
the work is adapted to his mental capacity. It is this lack of 
adaptation which leads to this erratic theory and ruinous 
practice. Give the child time to grow, and wait patiently 
until the germs of power burst out of their fruitful soil of 
unconsciousness. 

146. When should the use of objects be discontinued in 
teaching arithmetic? 

Cease using any object, when it can be remembered and 
used without the presence of the object. This is a general 
rule, and applies to all object teaching. 

147. How should higher or written arithmetic be taught? 

There is absolutely nothing new to be learned in all 
arithmetical teaching, except the processes which large num- 
bers involve, such as is found in the additions, multiplications, 
subtractions, and divisions, which can not be performed with- 
out the use of slate and pencil. All these processes should 
be discovered by pupils. 

148. What is the most diflicult division of arithmetic to teach? 



84 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Probably that of per eentage and its various applications, 
and it is possible that here a memorized knowledge of the 
rules governing the various cases — though in direct contra- 
diction to the philosophical methods of teaching arithmetic — is 
of more utility in advancing the pupil than in any other subject 
of the study. Continued and persistent explanation, illus- 
trated by the " thirty possible problems" of per eentage, will 
only and alone give a mastery. 

149. What may be said regarding the teaching of problems 
of longitude and time? 

The average pupil experiences nearly as much difficulty 
in solving problems under this division as in the more diffi- 
cult applications of per eentage. 

150. How is this to be remedied? 

By the teacher insisting upon the memorizing of the 
simple fact that when longitude (or a difference of such) is 
reduced to time, 15 is used as a divisor; that, conversely, in 
reducing a difference of time to degrees of longitude, 15 is 
used as a multiplier. 

151. How may this principle be further instilled into the 
minds of the pupils? 

By having them draw a circle on the slate or blackboard 
— the latter is preferable — and then furnished with a thorough 
instruction in the apparent revolution of the sun around the 
earth making so plain the cause of one hour's difference 
in time representing fifteen degrees of longitude that the 
pupil may be able to give this explanation in connection with 
his solution of the problem. A school globe is a very useful 
accessorv at this time. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 85 

152. With what class of problems in longitude and time is 
the greatest difficulty experienced? 

With those especially, in which the number of degrees 
(usually) is smaller than the divisor 15. This can be removed 
only by an illustration from the teacher of some three, four 
or half a dozen cases, if necessary, of solutions of this class 
of problems. In the question: What amount of time is 
represented in 4 degrees, 23 minutes, 17 seconds? the show- 
ing to the class that 4 being indivisible by the given divisor, 
a reduction to the next lower quantity or degree is essentially 
the first step, will be found to aid the pupils sufficiently well 
and encourage them to such development of their mathemati- 
cal reasoning, as will result in obtaining the answer — a correct 
one, if they have been drilled in securing accuracy of work. 

153. Should we ever teach a rule in arithmetic? 

A rule is merely a convenient statement of a method. 
Rules, formula?, and analyses should not be memorized to be 
repeated parrot-fashion by the pupil. A knowledge of the 
principles involved in the question will unconsciously frame 
in the mind of the pupil the rule for solution. -'The arith- 
metic of the future, will contain, not one rule, definition, or 
explanation of a process." — Parker. 

154. State the difference between teaching a rule inductively 
and deductively? 

By the Inductive Method, we solve each case by analysis, 
and derive the rules by inference or induction. By the De- 
ductive Method, we first establish a few general principles, 
and then derive rules of operation from these principles. 

155. Where it is necessary, why should a definition or princi- 
ple be understood by a pupil before he attempts to 
commit it to memory? 



86 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Because it would be otherwise to him sound without 
sense. 

156. How much assistance should be given to the pupil in the 
arithmetic class? 

Only so much as is necessary to show him how to study, 
and keep him from discouragement. Let him do the work, 
while you point out the way, and encourage his application. 
And, if he asks for light, give him only twilight. This is 
Nature's method of imparting light to the world. First, in 
the morning, the darkness is relieved by the glimmering twi- 
light; and by imperceptible degrees it steals upon us; more and 
more, until we bask in the full blaze of noonday- The 
anxious pupil sees but dimly the principle and the fact. He 
longs for more light. Encourage him to struggle for it, and 
let it in upon him slowly, and only as he needs it. "Never 
do anything for a pupil, that he can be led to do for himself." 

157. How should mensuration be taught? 

The working of all problems should be accompanied by 
drawings of squares, rectangles, circles, spheres, cubes, cylin- 
ders, etc. It adds interest to the recitation; ensures a more 
thorough knowledge of the subject; develops habits of accu- 
racy and neatness; cultivates the hand and eye, and frequently 
arouses an honest rivalry in each member of the class to do 
better than his neighbor. 

158. What connection has the New Education with this? 

Nothing more than that resulting from all object teach- 
ing. Many teachers start at this term as though some 
new discovery had just been made and announced to the 
world. Some probably associate it with Supt. RickotFs noble 
work at Cleveland, Dr. Hancock's at Cincinnati and Dayton, 



AVD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 3 7 

Mr. Wilson's at Washington, Dr. Harris's at St. Louis, 
Colonel Parker's at Quincy, or John Swett's in California. 
The probability is that not one of these gentlemen claims to be 
the founder of a new doctrine, or the discoverer of any very 
new truth, but all have been more or less thorough students 
of child-nature, and of the methods and principles of the 
great teachers who have opened new avenues of thought, 
investigation, and reflection in the past. The New Educa- 
tion, an era of real revival of the true spiritual side of educa- 
tion, in distinction from the purely formal and abstract, began 
with the study of the real nature and wants of the child. 
Comenius, Pestalozzi, Frcebel, Jacotot, Ratisch, Locke, 
and other names so ably presented to us in Prof. Quick's 
Educational Reformers, were the real discoverers of the New 
Education, and we are poor students of our profession if we 
have not learned something of their methods and purposes. 
So great an educator as Horace Mann lighted his torch at the 
lamp of these poet reformers, and to him as much, and possi- 
bly more, than to any other man in America, unless we except 
Henry Barnard, is due the honor of the great work of enlight- 
ening the intelligence of the American teachers from the 
sources of English and German educational philosophy. 

159. How shall the New Education be accepted? 

The term has come to be an acknowledged name for the 
definite departure from the old process of mind cultivation, 
and has already suffered by its practical adoption in the 
school-room by unthinking, unreasoning teachers who only 
copy others as parrots learn to talk. They do not think that 
it is a lack of skill on their part that they fail, and that such 
failure results from not studying what to do and what to 
avoid. No one can ask or expect, before making a first 
attempt, a thoughtful, intelligent teacher, who has followed 



88 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

a certain course faithfully because it has seemed the best 
way for him, to lay it aside at an hour's notice, and work as 
conscientiously for a new, untried, though highly recom- 
mended one. But let the winnowing process of careful 
experimental study be applied to them without prejudice and 
without haste. In this way only can the chaff be separated 
from the wheat. 

160. What should be one characteristic of a recitation in 
arithmetic? 

Neatness and carefullness in the small item of making 
exact figures, and forming beautiful combinations of 
numbers. The scrawling, irregular-shaped figures that 
deface the blackboards of very many country and town 
schools should give place to order and precision, and accu- 
rately-shaped characters. It is quite probable that nine- 
tenths of the mistakes and failures which occur at the board, 
find their origin, either remotely or immediately, in this 
slipshod work. 

161. What should be prominent in the instruction in arith- 
metic? 

Practical applications; and, in solving such problems, 
pupils should be required to understand the words in which 
the problem is expressed, to point out the relation of the 
thing required to the thing given, to present a neat solution, 
and to explain their work in concise and appropriate lan- 
guage. 

162. State the difference between the objective and sub- 
jective course in arithmetic. 

The former busies itself with finding out what are the 
facts in the case, and what these facts signify. The latter 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. S9. 

employs itself in arranging the facts in order, and in devot- 
ing them to such uses as will most effectually serve humanity, 

163. When can arithmetic be fully understood by the 
pupil? 

The full bearings of the science can not be seen until 
some progress has been made in the higher branches of 
mathematics; and they are never completely known, except 
to the few that attain the conception of the highest scientific 
or logical method. In the lower stage of school training,, 
ease and accuracy in calculation, extended to the ordinary 
compass of arithmetical problems, must be chiefly regarded. 
The persistent practice of years should bring about this 
result; while rapidity is attained by special drill in mental 
arithmetic. 

164. What are the principles of instruction in Algebra? 

First: to lead the pupil to make the transition from arith- 
metic to algebra. Second: to begin algebra with concrete 
problems, and not with the abstract operations of the sci- 
ence. Third: the pupil should have a thorough drill in the 
practice of algebra. 

165. Of what value is Geometry as a study? 

It ranks among the first of all studies for the discipline 
of thought power. It is the perfection of logic, and excels 
in training the mind to logical habits of thought. In this 
respect, it is superior to the study of Logic itself; for it is 
logic embodied in the science of form. While logic makes 
us familiar with the principles of reasoning, geometry trains 
the mind to the habits of reasoning. No study is so well 
adapted to make close and accurate thinkers. Euclid ha& 
done more to develop the logical faculty of the world than 



go A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

any book ever written. It has been the inspiring influence 
of scientific thought for ages, and is one of the corner-stones 
of modern civilization. 

166. State briefly the importance of a course in the ele- 
ments of geometry. 

1. A knowledge of geometry is adapted to the young 
mind. 2. The elements of geometry should be taught for 
their practical value. 3. Instruction in the elements of 
geometry lies at the basis of drawing; and fourth, lessons in 
geometry will be of value in school discipline. 

167. What may be said of methods in the Higher Mathe- 

matics? 

The methods in Algebra, Geometry, etc., are those for 
impressing abstract and symbolical notions and principles. 
The understanding must accompany the work throughout; 
the stage of routine manipulation, worked up to automatic 
dexterity, is left behind. To a certain extent, the mechan- 
ical processes may enter into Algebra; the pupil may receive 
certain instructions, and, without understanding the reasons, 
perform the simpler operations of adding, subtracting, multi- 
plying, as in Arithmetic, but in the resolution of equations, 
the principles must be understood. 

168. When should Algebra be studied? 

Alexander Bain states that this science is better learned 
after Geometry, inasmuch as it works in part by demonstra- 
tion or deduction from principles, for which by far the best 
commencement is Geometry. It has its own specialty, which 
consists in wrapping up the problems more completely in 
symbols, so that the inferences have to depend upon the 
validity of the symbolic representations and processes. The 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



91 



symbolic processes should be justified by explanations and 
demonstrations at the outset; and the pupil should fully com- 
prehend these. 

169. Should the Metric System be prominently taught? 

Of its utility — as it is the whole assemblage of measures 
derived from a fundamental standard, called meter — there 
can be no question. Originating in France, it is a mooted 
question whether it will come into general use by the people 
of other countries. Its opponents declare that it is no more 
necessary to adopt it than it would be to accept the monetary 
system, decimal or otherwise, of France, England, etc. Its 
adoption by the Government and almost universal use by 
scientists, does not necessarily make it "a part of us." Cer- 
tainly a knowledge of its divisions — beautifully uniform — 
can be imparted to the pupils in a short time. 

170. How are the Natural History sciences taught? 

These sciences are typified, and made up chiefly, by 
Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology. The methods of teach- 
ing these are not difficult to assign, although there are some 
things that serve to complicate them. It is understood that 
they repeat facts, notions already obtained in the general 
sciences, and that they are occupied with the arrangement, 
classification, and description of vast numbers of individual 
objects. Any of these sciences, and particulai'ly the last 
two, would swamp and overwhelm the strongest memory, and 
the details would be unprofitable when lodged there. The 
teacher has to make a principle of selection that will guide 
him in making the most of a limited amount of time. 

171. How are Philosophy and Chemistry to be taught? 
Principally by experiment. And this principle applies 



92 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

to Zoology, which can not be learnt with any degree of suffi- 
ciency and exactness, unless the student practice dissection. 
In our common schools, topical diagrams alone supply the* 
deficiency resulting from lack of apparatus. 

172. What is meant by Language Lessons? 

A system of language lessons conforms to nature's 
method of teaching language. The little child, prattling in 
its mother's arms, is engaged in its first lessons in composi- 
tion. The simple name, the quality and action word, the 
short sentence, all come in the natural growth of the power 
of expression. In teaching, we must observe nature's 
method and follow her golden rules. A correct system of 
language lessons is founded upon the way in which a little 
child naturally learns oral and written language. 

173. What fact follows from this principle? 

That a knowledge of language should precede a knowl- 
edge of grammar. This is the historical order of develop- 
ment. The ancients knew language and could use it in litera- 
ture, but they had very little knowledge of grammar. Homer 
sang in immortal veise, and probably could not distinguish 
a noun from a verb. The Iliad embodied the rules of gram- 
mar, without the author being conscious of them; the rules 
of grammar were derived from the study of the Iliad. This 
is also the natural order, — practice precedes theory, the art 
comes before the science, — and should be followed in the 
early lessons on language. 

174. Why should pupils be required to recite in good 
language ? 

That they may learn what is good language and form 
the habit of using it. We acquire language through imita- 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 93 

tion; the pupil who has always heard good language will use 
good language; his ability to use good language does not 
depend upon his knowledge of grammar, but upon his hav- 
ing heard good English, read good English, and practiced 
_good English. No teacher can afford to dispense with the 
language exercise. 

175. What noted statement has been made upon the subject 
of teaching grammar? 

"The time is coming, and will be here ere long, when 
there will be no more thought of teaching the grammar of 
his mother-tongue to an English-speaking boy than of teach- 
ing him astrology." — Richard Grant White. 

176. How does the pupil acquire the use of good English? 

Not through the study of words, but through familiarity 
of speech; and the teacher's conversation, in school and out, 
has more to do with the child's power of expression than the 
teaching of grammar. True, the latter is essential as much 
for its reactionary influences on the teacher, as for its 
effect npon the pupils, but it is the teacher's unguarded 
utterance that has most permanent influence in molding the 
child in the use of language. 

177. Why should we study grammar? 

Bain very cogently states some of the reasons why. He 
writes: A few persons, accustomed only to the best forms 
of the language, might approximate to a faultless style with- 
out grammar teaching; but not so the mass. By the ear 
alone we may be taught to avoid "houses »V; but the insid- 
ious breaches of concord due to the distance of the subject 
and the verb — " the price upon the houses are" — can hardly 
be explained without the terminology of grammar. * * * * 



94 A QUIZ- BOOK ON THE THEORY 

It is an aid to readiness, ease, correctness, and effectiveness 
of composition, to be led to examine the structure, arrange- 
ment, and constituents of the sentence. We may dispense 
with this training, but it will be our loss; we shall not com- 
pass the arts of style so rapidly in any other way. 

178. How should children be taught English Grammar? 
When? 

The first aim would be to have the meaning of the 
words of any simple story or narration understood, by telling 
or otherwise. The second would be to sort out or classify all 
the words meaning persons, places, or things. Then the 
words used to express doing or being. Next describing 
words — 1, of Nouns — 2, of Verbs. Next connecting words 
simply, and then words connecting and showing relation. 
Thus far, no grammar should be used. The pupil should 
then learn the inflections and syntax of the text-book. 
Technical grammar should not be studied too early. Cer- 
tainly not before a child is in its " teens." 

179. Of what benefit are diagrams? 

These are figures or drawings, usually formed of lines 
oval, straight, or slightly bent (as in the brace), used to facili- 
tate a demonstration of the agreement, construction, and 
arrangement of words. They are useful in picturing to the 
eye the several relations of words, phrases, and clauses in the 
sentence. 

180. When does their use become injurious? 

When used merely as a mechanical form without the 
additional and supplementary training in outlining, verbal 
analysis, and parsing. Their constant use results in surfeiting 
the pupil with a mastery of pictured analysis and some skill in 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



95 



the elements of geometrical drawing, without teaching him 
the use of his mother- tongue. By judicious use, they will 
ever be a beneficial auxiliary in demonstrating his knowledge 
of proper grammatical connection. 

181. Why do pupils generally dislike grammar? 

The reason why* so many of our pupils call grammar a 
dry and senseless study, is simply because there is neither 
method nor order in teaching it. This may be easily shown 
by asking a class to parse a word. That two in twenty should 
parse the same word in exactly the same way, would be a 
mere chance. 

182. How would you give a course in Language Lessons? 

1. Require pupils to write the names of objects. 2. Re- 
quire them to write the names of actions. 3. Require them 
to combine the names of objects with the names of actions, 
forming a sentence. 4. Lead pupils to an idea of a sentence, 
as asserting something of something. Lead them to see what 
is a telling or declarative sentence, an asking or interrogative 
sentence, and a commanding or imperative sentence. 5. Show 
them the use of capitals, the period, and the interrogation 
point. 6. Have them write sentences introducing adjectives, 
adverbs, pronouns, interjections, etc. 7. Show the difference 
between particular and common nouns; the use of capitals for 
I and 0., and so continue. A full analysis of this course is 
given in that excellent manual, Dr. Brook's Normal Methods 
of Teaching. 

183. The formation of correct habits of speech demands 
what? 

In addition to systematic instruction, there is required: 

# 



^6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

1. Correct speech on the part of teachers. 

2. Careful correction of faults. 

3. Care in the choice of reading and of associates. For 
several years from the first, the course of language lessons 
runs closely parallel with object lessons, and they must be 
treated as mutually complementary. As the child's intellect 
expands and he becomes capable of examining objects min- 
utely, his attention should be called to resemblances and 
differences, to the parts, material, qualities, and uses of the 
objects presented. Exercises of this kind properly conducted 
give a large number of concrete nouns and of such adjectives 
as are needed for simple descriptions of material things. 

184. What are cognates of this study? 

Reading and spelling might be considered as coming 
within the scope of this subject, but the special aim here is 
to develop the power of using the language with readiness, 
grammatical propriety, elegance, and force; for one of the 
•chief ends of education is universally conceded to be the 
cultivation of the power of thought, and words are its ex- 
pression. 

185. What should be the teacher's purpose at this time? 

On the child's first entrance into school the teacher should 
engage him in conversation on things most familiar to him, 
which are then the things associated with his home-life — and 
this can readily be done in the graded school — by way of 
securing his confidence and arousing an intelligent interest in 
the teacher and the school, as well as of improving his powers 
of expression. In all this the teacher should keep constantly 
in view the improvement of the child in all that pertains to 
the expression of his thought— intonation, pronunciation, 
choice of words, and form of sentence. 



A XI) PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



97 



186. When can this be done? 

Continually; in the class during the recitation, at noon, 
and at recess. The child's expression will at first, in most 
cases, be so faulty that the teacher must be very vigilant and 
careful in correction, and must repeatedly tell him just what 
form to give to his answer, remembering that the fit expression 
of a child's thought will always be in childish speech. 

187. What may be said of instruction in this study? 

Exercise the child's mind rightly and there must be 
permanent intellectual profit; and this applies to all branches 
of instruction. The mind, like the body, grows pliable and 
vigorous by exercise, and the child needs mental gymnastics 
well arranged and skillfully applied. But the danger is that, 
like athletic exercises, they will not be progressive, but will 
become mere routine marching and counter-marching. Success 
in mental training lies in giving the class intellectual exercise 
progressively in all branches of study. It needs to be con- 
ducted in a bright, spirited manner to stir the mind to white 
heat, as lively athletic exercise warms the blood. 

188. What is the principal subject of school instruction? 

Language. No intellectual necessity of man is greater 
than such a knowledge as shall unlock for him the records and 
treasures of all ages, enabling him to contribute of his own 
knowledge and thought to the profit and pleasure of mankind. 
If the teacher can realize what a blessing he is conferring 
upon humanity when he teaches language, he will not enter 
upon the grammar hour with so much reluctance. It will 
never be as satisfactory as mathematics, "an exact science;" 
or as reading, which may become an imitative art; or as 
geography, which may be fervently taught; or even as spelling, 



98 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

that may be almost silently taught; but it may be so directed 
as an exercise as to be of the highest value to them. 

189. How should the criticism of teaching this study be 
regarded ? 

The teacher of grammar is apt to be unduly sensitive in 
regard to the stale criticism of narrowness. It is never used 
by sharp, active men, whose judgment is worth heeding; but 
when heard, if at all, it emanates from people who borrowed 
the phrase from their grandfathers who knew only the district 
schoolmaster. It has no place in modern society. 

190. Of what must the young teacher be careful? 

Of that captious disposition which results in magnifying 
little matters. In the teacher's daily duties and surroundings, 
and in the examinations upon minutia3 to which he is con- 
stantly subjected, it is easy to discover the cause of this 
"disease." But it is none the less unfortunate. And a 
teacher is never so much to be commiserated as while he 
abides in that inflammatory rheumatic stage of learning, exact 
though not profound, in which no matter how absorbing the 
theme, he can not hear without a twinge in his mental joints 
and even in his countenance, a misplaced accent, a wrong 
sound of a vowel, or one of those at least venial idioms which 
some critics condemn. 

191. What may be said of "verbal purism"? 

Many estimable people, including very many teachers, 
ignore the thoughts expressed in a conversation or newspaper 
article or a sermon, in their eagerness to ferret out some of 
the few scores or expressions which they are big with the 
wisdom of just having learned to reject. This would be 
puerile enough, even if their newly acquired information were 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 99 

always correct. But it usually comes from some one book, 
and most such books that have been issued either are super- 
ficial catch-pennies, or are warped by personal prejudice and 
whims. No one should rely upon Dean Alford's The Queen'' s 
English, until he has read The Dean's English; nor should he 
put faith in Richard Grant White till he has read Fitzgerald 
Hall's two books, or Matthews' Words and Their Uses, or 
Bardeen's Verbal Pitfalls. 

192. How is this exhibited at Institutes? 

Sometimes, unfortunately, by a spirit of unfairness in 
attempting to trip the fellow teacher into some statement 
antagonistic to the "decree" of the text-book author, or by a 
confession of ignorance of the construction of a word of 
which the querist was himself possibly half an hour previous. 
Precious time has been thus wasted, when a proper discussion 
of ways, means, methods, and the solution of the difficulties 
of the school-room was the proper work. All such jugglery 
should be decried by the good sense of the presiding officer. 

193. What are really the "two troublesome words" to the 
teacher? 

Like and As. " The similarity and yet difference of 
these two little words often give use to obscurity in the 
writings of even the most thoroughly educated. A sentence 
in a newspaper remonstrating against the laborers in a gas- 
works being compelled to work twelve hours a day before red- 
hot furnaces, runs. thus: 'The directors could fill their places 
in three hours from the docks alone; but that does not give 
them a right to use up men like Cuban planters.' Of course 
the writer meant to say that the directors had no right to use 
up men as Cuban planters use up negroes. The obscurity of 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



his expression arose from the misunderstanding of the dis- 
tinction between like and as. So in ordinary language it is 
common to hear such expressions as 'He don't like to do it as 
you do.' Like and as both express similarity, but the for- 
mer compares things, the latter action or existence. ' John is 
like James,' and 'John is such a man as James is,' are correct 
expressions. We may say, A's speech is like B's; or A speaks 
as B; but it would be incorrect to say that A's speech is as 
B's is; or A speaks like B does. One good rule on this 
question is, that when as is correctly used, a verb is expressed 
or understood, thus: 'One man is as good as another,' 
With like a verb is unnecessary, thus: ' He does his work 
like a man,' not 'like a man does.' These examples show how 
words generally supposed to be synonymous may in reality 
alter the true and close sense of a passage, and effect the 
clearness and terseness of style." — On the Use of Words. 

194. What are the " common errors of speech" among pupils? 

Outside of gross vulgarisms and barbarisms, — common 
in many cases to both pupil and teacher, — are the uses of the 
past tense of many verbs with the auxiliary verbs have, had 
etc.; the use of the participle instead of the past tense with 
the first person, as I done; and the euphonious error of dcm-t 
(and in the above extract the author pays no attention to it) 
with the third person singular. 

195. How are these errors to be corrected? 

Principally by having your class or classes drilled on the 
conjugation of the verbs. Assign the verb "believe" to 
them daily for slate work, in one or more tenses, through the 
active and passive voices. Succeed this by similar drill in 
"fall," "see," "freeze," "eat," and many others, varied by 
having the class write on the blackboard such sentences as 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



"I should have fell," "I have froze," "I haven't saw," etc., 
and then rewrite the sentence correctly, explaining the fault 
in the former sentence. 

196. How may this subject be further illustrated? 

By further illustration of the puzzling verbs " lie" and 
"lay," "sit" and "set," and an explanation of the auxilia- 
ries skill and will] and here where so many grammarians are 
suspiciously silent it is best to simply state that shall is used 
in the first persons, and will in the second and third, in 
ordinary affirmation; or vice versa in their use, when strong 
determination is asserted. 

197. What is a good rule relative to this? 

That the teacher with pupils of ordinary ability and 
progress should not strive to elucidate this subject too clearly, 
as there is danger of confusing in their minds the easier facts 
that may be retained. With an advanced class "gleanings" 
from text books and educational journals may be brought to 
their notice with comments upon them from the teacher — in 
some cases possibly, from both teacher and pupil — and where 
circumstances justify such a course, a discussion on the merits 
of the statements gleaned may ensue. There is seldom any 
opportunity for this in the district or graded school, however. 

198. What is the principal fault in grammar instruction? 

It is one that frequently does not exist owing to the 
paucity of knowledge of the subject by the teacher, or in its 
stead there is a pseudo-criticism fever premeating his instruc- 
tion as to whether five and six are eleven or five and six is 
eleven; but it is that resulting from trying to teach too much 
where the instructor is scholarly and really well versed in the 
subject. 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



199. By what result is it followed? 

The pupil can readily give a very charming analysis of 
those lines from Whittier's Snow Bound, and furnish on slate 
or blackboard a picturesque diagram (according to Clark or 
some one of the manifold modifications and variations of the 
Brace System) of the interesting lines selected from Gold- 
smith's The Village Schoolmaster: 

" Here, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 
The village master taught his little school." 

And at the very moment possibly, or some minutes later, 
indulge in one or more of the ungrammatical expressions that 
result principally from not being drilled in such a simple matter 
as the conjugation of verbs. 

200. What "grammar" should the young teacher use? 

He must be careful not to make a false distinction. For 
the simple reason that he has found some statement con- 
tradicting a long-loved hobby, he should not resolve to heed 
in his use of language any mentor but habit. Here he would 
be wrong, for there are expressions in common use, unques- 
tionably some of them in his own vocabulary, which would 
stamp him in many minds as an ignoramus. There are even 
expressions recognized by scholars as wholly legitimate, 
which he should remember to avoid because they have been 
questioned by shallow critics whose books or newspaper 
articles have had wide circulation. He will avoid such 
expressions, not because they are wrong, but because they 
might distract attention from his thoughts; just as a sensible 
man avoids parting his hair in the middle, or saying ei(i)ther 
and nei(i)ther, or the ungeneral pronunciations of wounded 
and deaf, whatever may be his personal preferences, because 
the multitude of men would regard the one and the other as 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



103 



affectations. Better be thought thrice a dunce than once a 
pedant. 

201. What may be said of the conclusion that grammar 
should never be studied? 

It is' a mistake. English grammar, well studied, puts the 
student in posession of many important facts concerning the 
English language. The student thus adds to his stock of 
information. Additionally, it will give the pupil a kind of 
discipline he can not gain in any other way. Distinctions of 
words and forms, idioms and constructions, are important in 
themselves, and the nice observation of them develops a criti- 
cal faculty that can not be obtained from mathematical or 
scientific studies. 

202. State your method of teaching grammar. 

It should be so taught as to improve the pupil's use of 
language. Even if a pupil has a good command of words, 
forms, and constructions, there are still some things that he 
must learn by rule and practice. He may by imitation pro- 
nounce his plurals and possessives correctly, but he can not 
thus spell and write them. But in the cases of the majority 
there are numerous errors of speech that spring from associa- 
tion, and that can be rooted out only by persistent criticism 
and correction. Some of these are errors of Etymology, and 
some errors of Syntax. 

203. What then should the teacher do? 

He should pay much attention to the practical side of the 
subject; the grammar study and the language lessons should 
be taught together. Moreover, the teacher must not be con- 
tent with mere corrections of errors. In the discussion of 
false forms, four steps may be noted; the error, the reason 



104 -4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

why it is an error, the correction, and the reason why the cor- 
rection is made. 

204. To what result will this method tend? 

(a) Pupils will become observant and critical of errors 
both in literature and in oral speech. 

(b) They will become observant of their own errors, 
spoken and written. 

205. How will the pupils further show beneficial results? 

The fruits of their study will be shown in improved 
practice in the use of language, and will thus aid in removing 
the current reproach against the study of grammar. As 
respects themselves, the language of pupils will become more 
conscious and more grammatical. A cultivated second nature 
will take the place, in a degree, of the spontaneous first 
nature; and this second nature will be developed all the more 
rapidly if technical grammar is accompanied by studies in 
language and literature, as should be the case. 

206. What has been said of the usual method of teaching 
grammar? 

" The present general method of teaching grammar is 
all wrong. If you want children to speak correctly, present 
occasion for thinking, let them express their thoughts in 
words, and when far enough advanced, let them read the 
science of the English language, and they will not hate gram- 
mar as they do now; while at the same time they will be able 
to speak and write more correctly. I have heard school 
children rattle off from memory page after page, but it was 
all mechanical." — F. W. Parker. 

207. Is there such a thing as English grammar? 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



">5 



"Now there is such a thing as Greek grammar, and 
Latin Grammar, and German grammar; but there is no sci- 
ence of the English language worth mentioning (since 
William the Conqueror smashed the Saxon), and what there 
is can be taught to a high school pupil in a week or two. 
But some man unfortunately tried to make an English gram- 
mar on the Latin plan; and ever since they have been making 
it more and more complicated, and we have gone on teaching 
what is called English grammar, and pretend to teach the 
child "to speak and write the English language correctly — 
we all know how he does it. * * * * * What shall 
we do about it? Why apply our principle; let the child learn 
to talk by talking, and to write by writing, and to compose 
by composing — that is all." — F. W. Parker. 

208. What is the relation of habit to grammar instruction? 

Young pupils do not learn half as much good English 
from their text-books as they do from their teacher, if she is 
accurate and choice in her language. A pupil may decline 
the pronoun "I" a hundred times, and repeat the rule for the 
objective case as often, and yet he will say " Olla gave the 
flowers to Mary and I" if his teacher uses such construc- 
tions. On the contrary, if his teacher says " She gave it to 
Mary and me," he will say the same, though he never looked 
into a grammar. Corrollary 1. A child would never use bad 
grammar, if he had never heard bad grammar. Corrollary 2. 
Children in their language are much the same as are their 
models. 

209. How can correct language only be attained? 

The important thing in the guidance of children toward 
the acquirement of ease and correctness of expression, is to 
see from the earliest moment in school-life that every spoken 



io 6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

or written sentence that comes under their observation be 
correct and even elegant. That this shall be done must be 
made the constant care of every teacher. The pupil watches 
the movements and imitates the words and actions to a far 
greater extent than the teacher knows. 

210. What will be the result of this unconscious tuition? 
Let the teacher never speak incorrectly himself, nor per 

mit an incorrect expression of a pupil to pass unheeded, and 
there is a probability of our seeing and hearing such forms of 
language for them as would honor even " a well of English 
undefiled." 

211. What should be shunned by the teacher? 

That feeling which is common among many district 
school teachers, of constraint, awkwardness, amounting in 
some cases to almost shame, to speak grammatical English 
when at home, on the farm, or by the fireside. If you are to 
be exposed to ridicule for speaking correctly, even if it comes 
in contradiction to the language of your parents, the sooner 
the matter is settled by a judicious stand, the better for the 
sake of all, and especially your own welfare. The attempt 
to indulge in too set forms of speech — one for the school- 
room and the other for the " world" — can not be too much 
decried. 

212. What may be said of all methods of teaching 
grammar? 

As there is no royal road to learning, in general, so there 
is no one method for teaching language so pre-eminent that it 
may be regarded as the best method. It is, however, strik- 
ingly manifest that those teachers secure the most satisfac- 
tory results who work in accordance with methods of their 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



107 



own arranging; who are not mere imitators, but intelligent 
executors of methods which they have thoughtfully devised. 

213. State one of these "original" methods. 

As one of the objections made strongly against the 
" rote" parsing (characterized by some as "senseless memo- 
rizing") of "John is a noun, singular number, masculine gen- 
der," etc., and yet as it is absolutely necessary that a knowl- 
edge of the properties of the various parts of speech should 
be held by the pupil, there can be used " outlines," similar 
to the following, and given as slate-work or produced on the 
blackboard: 



For the Substantivb. 
Species. 
Class. 
Sub-class. 
Person. 
<j Gender. 
Number. 
Declension. 
Case. 
Construction. 



For the Verb. 
'Species. 

Class. 

Sub-class. 

Voice. 

Mode. 

Tense. 

Conjugation. 

Person. 

Number. 

Construction. 



214. What does this method insure? 

Closer attention on the part of the pupils to the tech- 
nicalities of language. The work being before the eyes of 
all — blackboard outlining is preferable — a spirit of emulation 
is aroused between the members of the class, resulting in 
growing accuracy, daily. They will not withstand the criti- 
cism of their associates. 

215. What kind of oral parsing may be used? 

That which properly may be denominated "collateral" 



ioS A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

parsing; where using the same form of outline as above 
given — after a sentence has been written on the blackboard 
or a line or two of poetry and prose recited by the teacher — 
the pupils, " in turn," parse the word. 

216. What are the especial benefits of this method? 

Securing the attention of the class and developing the 
faculty of criticism among the pupils. Necessary corrections 
may be indicated by the upraised hand of the pupil. 

217. Name the first requisite in the successful teaching of 
any branch. 

A thorough understanding of the subject by the teacher 
himself. We should always be so thoroughly familiar with 
it before coming to the recitation that we will not be obliged 
to refer to the book. This will inspire confidence on the 
part of the pupils, and it will encourage them to recite the 
subject, since they will see that it is this which the teacher 
knows rather than the set words of the text. 

218. How may "routine teaching" in grammar be avoided? 

By dispensing with the book, for the time being, as soon 
as a knowledge of the noun has been obtained. Select 
familiar sentences from their readers and have them simply 
parse, outline, and diagram the noun until it is well under- 
stood, and stop just before this subject even is monotonous. 
So complete the study with these variations from text-book 
to slate or blackboard, or both. 

219. To what is this avoidance of routine essential? 

To true progress in teaching. The children must be 
taught the practical value of the lessons they are learning; 
taught that they learn in order to become wiser and better 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



109 



men and women, not merely for the sake of "getting over'* 
each day's recitation. To accomplish this, the teacher must 
give instruction by topics rather than by the strict order of 
the book, and himself labor diligently to acquire, for his own 
use, all the knowledge he can obtain outside of the book. 
Every new idea will aid in making the recitation interesting, 
and this is a great help. 

220. How should the verb be introduced to the notice of 
the class? 

By following a similar plan concerning the noun. First 
make the pupils familiar with this part of speech by numer- 
ous illustrations and examples- They will then be ready for 
the name verb, and possibly for a definition. The arrange- 
ment of its properties and its construction naturally follows. 

221. What definitions should be given in grammar? 

Those of the simplest form and accurate in statement. 
Teachers have not the time nor opportunity, in the ordinary 
grade of schools, to enter into discussion with the pupils 
regarding text-book statements. To commit and "parrot 
off" the' definitions of others is time worse than wasted. In 
schools of the higher grade there is time to investigate, to 
decide, to point out errors, to carry a proposition to logical 
conclusions, and to analyze these are positive advantages. 

222. In view of this, what should characterize the teaching 
of definitions? 

The teacher must be in the position to have his state- 
ments accepted by the pupils unquestioned. Necessarily he 
should be correct. Do not accept the definition of a regular 
verb as "one that adds d or ed to the present," as this would 
include hear, an irregular verb; or "a regular verb is one 



-■1 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



whose past indicative and perfect participle end in ed" as 
this includes the irregular verbs fed and led; but simply that 
"a regular verb is one which adds ed to the present to form 
the past indicative and perfect participle." 

223. Should prosody be taught in the common schools? 

It frequently happens that a teacher from a natural lik- 
ing or knowledge of the subject, and sometimes simply as 
the result of an affected conceit, attempts to give some 
instruction in this division of grammar, but always with the 
only result of having called the pupil's attention to a curi- 
osity, or of wasting a few days of the school's recitations. 
Properly, it should be left alone under these circumstances. 

224. How much punctuation may be taught by the district 
teacher? 

Considerable. The knowledge which he may attain by 
a study of any one of the half-dozen excellent little manuals 
published on the subject, may be imparted to the pupils, 
additional to that contained in their grammar, by writing 
simple sentences on the blackboard, properly punctuated, 
with specimens of the superscriptions of letters, forms of 
address, letter headings, etc. The use of quotation marks, 
interrogation and exclamation points, may be insisted upon 
from the start. 

225. Illustrate a Lesson in Grammar? 
Write on the blackboard the following: 

" The day is done, and the darkness 
Falls from the wings of night, 
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

"I see the lights of the village 

Gleam through the rain and the mist, 
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me, 
That my soul can not resist: 1 '— Longfellow. 



A XD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



226. What questions can then be asked? 

1. Those relative to Punctuation and Capitals, (a) Call 
the attention to the use of the comma in the series of nouns, 
and then form a rule, (b) How many commas in the whole 
lesson? (c) Name and use of the punctuation mark after 
"resist." (d) Why is the dash used before the author's 
name? (e) How many periods in this lesson? How many- 
sentences? Why does each line commence with a capital 
letter? 

2. Regarding the Parts of Speech, (a) Write in col- 
umn all the nouns. How many are there? (b) How many 
nouns are plural? (c) Write the verbs. How many? 
(d) How many times is the article the -used in this lesson? 
The article a or an? (e) How many prepositions in the les- 
son? (/') How many times is the conjunction and used? 
(g) Name the pronouns? (h) How many paragraphs? How 
many sentences? (i) Write from memory the first verse — 
the second. (j) Compare with original and correct the 
punctuation and other errors. 

227. What may be said of the Composition problem? 

The teacher could not be confronted by any more appall- 
ing task than that of managing the compositions of a hundred 
or more boys and girls — or even the lowest allotment of 
twenty-five or thirty — who are neither innocent enough to 
work for praise, nor experienced enough to know the value of 
literary accomplishments. About equally convinced that 
compositions are of no value in themselves, and that, if they 
were he himself could never write anything worth reading, 
the average boy teaches himself to look upon them as an 
unmitigated nuisance, and upon the teacher who requires them 
as an enemy to his happiness. 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



228. What are the "helps" to the teacher in this exercise? 

He should remember that as there is a traditional antipa- 
thy to the task, it is best in the first place not to insist upon 
their production too often. During the first of the term they 
may for a short time alternate weekly with map drawing. 
Later, require them only once in three weeks, and if a holiday 
occurs on Friday — the usual day for making the requirement — 
delay the exercise until the next week. It gives an "air of 
freedom" to the matter that is appreciated by the pupils. 
Again, if possible, obtain their consent to write one complete 
«ssay, treating a subject fully and written with especial care, 
giving them an extension of time for its preparation. This 
is of more value in developing the ability to compose than a 
number of short ones. 

229. What is one "practical form" of composition? 

Letter writing. A matter that is sadly neglected in our 
common, graded, and even many of our high schools. The 
teacher should place upon the blackboard a drawing of a par- 
allelogram — the ordinary shape of the envelope — and write 
some three or four different forms of addresses. Then furnish 
the pupils with an example of proper dating, letter heading, 
the address of the letter itself, some hints relative to the 
■" body" of the epistle, showing them varying forms of closing, 
and request them to bring in the composition, with a cancelled 
stamp placed on the upper right hand corner, with an imita- 
tion of the post-office stamp. 

230. Of what should the subject consist f 

Most anything. This form is only to be used after the 
pupils have had some experience in composition writing. Tell 
them to write you a letter of a visit or journey they have 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACH IXC 



made, if even only a few miles away, or a description of some 
subject that lias interested them, the books they wish to read, 
or have read, the studies they like, or any ordinary incident 
of home life. They will do it well, and be well pleased with 
the novelty of the proceeding. 

231. How long should this be continued? 

Do not overdo it. Some schools will remain content 
with half a dozen requisitions upon them for this exercise. 
Others will tire after three or four efforts, and then is the 
time to discontinue. It may be renewed, if advisable, at a 
later period during the term. 

232. What should be the first form of a composition? 

Reproduction from memory . It demands a low grade of 
the inventive, originating activity of the mind. The pupil 
in trying to reproduce the idea calls into operation every 
faculty of the mind to select the words most suitable for the 
idea. Unsuccessful efforts to express are the best means of 
teaching the value of the words. We learn the value of 
words by needing them. Having really felt their want, when 
we at last get them they are appreciated. The constant fail- 
ure to express ideas Well, is the best possible training toward 
ready language. 

233. What subjects should be given for compositions? 

Topics taken from the reading lesson may be used. An 
excellent preliminary drill is to read to the class (grammar it 
is presupposed) some short, interesting, spicy narrative, and 
at its close request them to write it on their slates for your 
inspection. Taking special opportunity for this, you may 
correct these embryo theses while the pupils wait, reading 
aloud certain portions that indicate discrimination or good 



1I4 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

judgment, or on the contrary require some present criticism, 
grading them as you proceed. The name of the writer 
should not be mentioned, and this applies only to a class 
of twelve or fifteen members. 

234. Should the teacher select the topics? 

As a general thing yes. Don't ask young pupils to make 
their own selection. It is cruel. It is shirking a duty which 
is harder for them than for you. Don't make too much of 
these efforts. Take time for it, and real, genuine healthy 
progress will be your sure reward. 

235. How often should the composition exercise be given? 
This depends greatly upon the grade of the school, its 

morale, the advancement of the pupils, and the efficiency of 
the instruction. In the matter of grading, some district 
schools are superior to those in town, and here elementary 
composition writing in connection with the grammar may be 
used daily; in others two or three times a week; in some once 
a week only. In graded schools it is generally a requirement 
made fortnightly from the pupils, alternating with map draw- 
ing. In the grammar schools of the different cities various 
exercises are demanded on succeeding Friday afternoons, such 
as printing (in script, German text, etc.), compositions and 
map drawing, so that this study conies up but once a month. 

236. What success have you had in teaching composition? 
Very good. We once asked the pupils to open their 

geographies to the map of the British Isles, and then followed 
a supposed route from the extreme southwestern point of 
England, mentioning the larger cities, such natural curiosities 
as came to our memory, reference to the poem in Home's 
Douglass of " On the Grampian Hills," etc., an account of 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



"5 



Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of the Queen, on to 
"Duncansby Head. We then referred the class to the account 
of John O'Groat given in the Webster's Unabridged lying 
on the desk, supplemented it with some additional infor- 
mation, and then announced as the topic "From Land's End 
to John O'Groat's House." No copying was allowed during 
the preliminary talk or from their text-books. Out of a class 
of thirty-five, some six or eight compositions were produced 
quite suitable for the columns of the town paper (weekly), 
to which they were referred, and in which they were printed. 
The class consisted of boys and girls, of very ordinary intel- 
lect, from twelve to fifteen years of age. 

237. How is a class to be instructed in original production? 

This is the highest, most profitable, and if the matter is 
properly managed, really the easiest form. It may be oral 
or written. A thousand devices will lead to it. If the 
Psalm of Life is the reading lesson, you may request the 
pupils to be ready to tell what they would have their life to 
be, as their next lesson. Have the relation of a military 
funeral, a steamboat disaster, a great fire, a noted flood, a 
terrible cyclone, the beauty and strength of the ocean, an 
account of a field of waving wheat or other gram, with a 
great selection of a variety of topics, such as meets the taste 
or circumstances of the pupils, and after the oral recitation 
ask for its "written account." 

238. How may good results be secured? 

By thoroughness and originality of treatment, freedom 
of choice of subjects, definite instructions as to form, en- 
couragement to boldness in developing the outline, length of 
time allowed for preparation, persistent training in habits of 
neatness and correctness in written work, and some schedule 



Ii6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

of marks of correction; and, where blank forms are unat- 
tainable, a printed or written list of suggestions for the use* 
of the pupils is beneficial. 

239. Of what length should the compositions be? 

It is quite difficult to regulate this matter. A hint pri- 
vately given to a pupil furnishes better result than any other 
form, though the general statement may be made that the 
teacher desires nothing less than three or four or six pages of 
note paper, as of sufficient length. To the boy or girl who 
shirks and brings you but a page or a page and a half care- 
lessly written in haste and badly composed, some special cor- 
rection should be given by forcing him or her to prepare 
a better substitute. In higher schools compositions are fre- 
quently presented with the sheets stitched together and 
fastened with ribbons in artistic fashion, and, in some cases, 
accompanied with drawings of real excellence. There have 
been presented compositions that were exquisite in tone and 
almost faultless in penmanship and punctuation; and it is 
quite possible to receive some very miserable " scrawls." 

240. What "form" of composition can be taught? 

Without trenching upon the advanced subject of essay 
writing taught in high schools and required from the college 
student in the guise of a theme, valedictory, etc., the pupil 
of the common school may be taught to write biographical 
sketches, commencing possibly with an autobiography, stat- 
ing his name, date and place of birth, parents with ages and 
occupation, first remembrances, where educated, personal 
appearance, favorite occupation, characteristics, and plans 
for the futuie. The teacher may aid materially by placing 
upon the blackboard a skillfully arranged outline of this as 
a preliminary movement. 



PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



117 



241. What special principle applies to composition? 

The same as belongs to oral reading: that ideas are of 
more importance than words, and it is better, therefore, for 
the pupil to express the thought, ungrammatically than not 
at all, as in reading it would be better to miscall a word now 
and then, while doing so understandingly, than to read all 
the words correctly and have no idea. 

242. What are the aids to language acquisition? 
Committing passages to memory, more especially poetry. 

This may contribute to knowledge, but it is not the best way 
of imparting knowledge, and its value must be appraised 
rather as regards language. It is, however, one of the oldest 
devices of teaching; having the great merit of being plain 
and manageable, it is adopted to the lowest teaching capacity, 
and nobody can say' that it is devoid of useful results. It 
certainly stamps upon the mind the material both of thought 
and of language, and they must be very hopeless subjects 
that can not turn it to some account. 

243. What are the "weaknesses" of this exercise? 

The sense of the words used should be understood by 
the pupil. This may be done by the " drawing-out process" 
on the part of the teacher before or after the recitation. It 
often happens that poetry, above all other things, may be 
committed to memory as three-fourths words and one-fourth 
meaning. It is not sufficient that interesting emotions are 
produced when only a vague thread of sense is traceable. 
Prose passages are less easy to commit, but more likely to be 
turned to account, than poetry. 

244. To what practical use does this lead? 

What we Avant for ready use is a well-turned sentence 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



form, or a suitable designation or phrase for some meaning 
that we are at a loss to render. It is this innate desire of 
human nature that is shown among the uneducated classes by 
the reiteration of stale axioms and trite "sayings." The ora- 
tor is frequently indebted to his momentary success by some 
strong pregnant quotation, aptly illustrating his train of 
spoken thought, and which serves as a "clincher" to his 
argument or peroration. 

245. Name one of the most valuable exercises in grammar. 

It is the tilling up of omissions or ellipses, so common in 
every language as to be an authorized fact of the language. 
Half the difficulties of grammatical parsing grow out of these 
ellipses. "Please to give me (or, more commonly, please 
give me) something to drink" is a grammatical puzzle until the 
full expression is given — "May it please you to give me some- 
thing that I may drink." 

246. What are the unnoticed ellipses? 

The elliptical use of nouns, as "stone walls;" "walls 
that are made of stones." Another important contraction is 
the turning of clauses into abstract nouns — " What we see, 
we believe," " seeing is believing," "sight is belief." 



247. What forms of grammatical structure should the teacher 
give? 
The arrangement of words and clauses in sentences 
admits of great variation, and many of the most successful 
teachers in this study insist upon a lengthened drill in the 
different placing of qualifying words, the substitution of sub- 
jects, predicates, and the auxiliary elements (adjective, objec- 
tive, and adverbial) in sentences lacking such. The teacher 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



119 



can form to himself a scheme of variation, for which Gram- 
mar and his own sense will be the guide. 

248. When should advanced grammar be taught? 

When pupils have arrived at a stage of intellectual 
development to enable them to comprehend the principles of 
language as a science. This can seldom be done in the 
country school, but must be left to the instruction that can 
be given under the favoring conditions of a high graded 
school or the private academies and seminaries. 

249. How is rhetoric taught? 

As the subject is but a continuation of advanced gram- 
mar its treatment must be similar, consisting largely of drills 
in the correction of false forms of diction, construction, and 
the avoidance of ambiguity of thought and expression. 

250. By what is this followed? 

By an exercise in the analysis of words in which the 
pupil is made familiar with the results of modern Philological 
research in regard to the formation of words and the growth 
of language. By the careful study of his own vernacular, he 
obtains a knowledge of the roots derived from all the lan- 
guages which enter into the English; he gets nice and 
discriminating use of words which is usually sought in the 
study of a foreign language, and he acquires the power of 
etymological analysis, which will be of great worth to him in 
practical life, and in the continuation of linguistic studies. 

251. Is etymology an advanced study? 

Not necessarily. It may be introduced into classes of 
ordinary advancement in grammar and especially with bene- 
ficial results where there is no probability of the pupils 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



receiving higher instruction in a language course. A study 
of this kind, while it can not take the place of a thorough 
culture in the classic "tongues," will be found an excellent 
preparation for such culture, and it will prove of much 
greater practical value than superficial classic study. 

252. How should it be taught? 

Any good text-book on the subject indicates properly the 
method of instruction which is supplying the definitions of 
roots, prefixes, and suffixes (affixes) in addition to the drills in 
original meaning of words, and the interchange of synonyms. 
The better grade of readers furnish this latter exercise, which, 
in connection with composition work, is of the greatest 
benefit. 

253. What is the highest form of word-memorizing? 

That which leads to the study of literature as a distinct 
branch. While studying the models of English composition, 
the student should be assisted to undertake a course of read- 
ing carefully planned by the teacher. Each author should be 
thoroughly studied, and his characteristics as a writer, his 
peculiarities, habits, tastes, personal appearance, etc., noticed. 
Following this an exercise may be held each week, to which 
all the members of the class are required to contribute some- 
thing relative to the author. This can only be done, success- 
fully, in the schools of our larger towns having ready access 
to books of reference through the medium of public libraries. 

254. Can literature be taught in the common schools? 

Yes; and by an earnest teacher with the most gratifying 
results. A small manual * placed in the hands of the pupils 
as supplementary to the reading lessons and ultimately as a 

* Short Studies in Literature. Eldridge & Bro., Philadelphia. Price 00 cents. 



ASD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



special study, has, in many cases, entirely revolutionized the 
mental condition of a school and served as an intellectual 
incentive to additional increased interest in other studies. 

255. How should it be taught? 

The probability is, that after the first fresh enthusiasm 
that pupils always feel everywhere, in having possession of a 
"new book," it will require some tact on the part of the 
teacher to prevent the exercise from becoming dry and insipid. 
A mere recital of the dates of birth and death of an author 
with the list of his works is not literature, nor the study of 
literature. It should be remembered that the knowledge of 
the teacher must be sufficient to fill out and supplement the 
brief descriptions of a text-book. As soon as practically con- 
venient, have the class engaged in preparing topical outlines 
of the authors, giving their birth, death, incidents in their 
career, their married life, manner and conversation, striking 
peculiarities, social standing, the financial reward of their 
labors, list of productions, some leading familiar quotation or 
"oft-repeated phrase," and their burial place. 

256. Under what form may this topical outline be arranged? 
By having the pupils place upon the blackboard — the 

teacher should illustrate at first by some three or four 
examples — a brace or any form of connecting outline filling 
in similar to the following: 

("1564— April 23— Birth: Stratford-upon-Avon. 
1582 — Marriage to Anne Hathaway. 
1581 — Departure for London. 

1598— Acted for the last time in Ben Jonson's Sejanus. 
1611 — Returned home. 
!Shakespeaee. I 1616— Death; on fifty-third birthday. 
! List of works. 
I Familiar quotations. 

I Personal appearance, characteristics, married life, style of 
I handwriting, etc. 
Note:— The " matter" following date of death is left unfilled, as sucli informa- 
tion can be derived from the text-book. 



William 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



257. How can pupils gain a knowledge of the author's life 
and writings? 

Naturally, no small text-book can supply else than a few 
meager facts relative to an author, and offer but a few brief 
selections from his works; but not only the teacher but the 
pupils should have cultivated a disposition to search for 
additional information and extracts. Hardly any community 
is so isolated but what they are favored with their weekly 
local paper, and hardly any rural publication but what will 
contain, frequently, just such details, in the way of literary 
gossip, clippings, stereotyped news, and some poetical select- 
ions. To the schools in villages and larger towns the " daily" 
and the circulating library, offer all that is needed. 

258. What special effort should the teacher make in teach- 
ing literature? 

From the beginning, he should place himself within the 
reach of all means tending to a full knowledge of the subject, 
which he can do by subscribing to some two or three cheap 
publications — as low as fifty cents per annum — and constantly 
search the columns for such literary gems as will be useful. 
A sci*ap-book containing all these cuttings will be of inesti- 
mable value to him. Under passably favorable conditions, he 
can secure the co-operation of his more intelligent pupils and 
they, too, will furnish scrap books for use in the recitation. 

259. How is the literary scrap-book to be used? 

It should be remembered that all these remarks are based 
upon the supposition — and such is frequently the case — that 
the school is comparatively ignorant of the subject and that 
even the teacher may be but indifferently prepared to give 
instruction. In our larger towns and cities, where school 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



123 



children have access to the morning and evening paper, the 
school and public library, and a hundred-and-one mediums of 
information, a love of literature — the study of good books — 
is fostered from infancy, and the class accept an introduction 
into the use of such text-book with more or less delight, 
based naturally upon their inclinations, but it is in the 
retired village or comparatively obscure and isolated district 
school, that the scrap-book becomes the circulating library 
and is the great incentive to the acquisition of more knowl- 
edge. The teacher may loan his, under certain restrictions, 
to the pupils, and those that have been "made" by them 
should be at hand for ready use. The wise teacher will have 
his prepared as an introductory movement in which to engage 
the class. 

260. By what further means can an interest be aroused in 

the study? 

By allowing the pupils at their Friday afternoon " exercise'* 
to recite, as a class, selections from leading authors, in prose 
or poetry, giving at the commencement or close the name of 
author and extract. The teacher may question occasionally 
as to the time that author lived, etc., that is, it would be, to 
a certain extent, partly an examination. This exercise may 
be held weekly, or only twice a month, basing its judicious 
use upon the amount of interest shown by the class. If suffi- 
cient interest is aroused, the teacher will be surprised at the 
amount of literary "matter" the pupils have obtained. 

261. What is one form of arousing interest in the study? 

The recital of such anecdotes illustrating the whims, 
peculiarities, struggles, rewards, and habits of authors, as 
may come to the notice of the teacher — and there is an 
immense fund of such "gossip" — by him to the pupils at 



I24 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

appropriate intervals, but exercising sufficient judgment to 
prevent himself from degenerating into a mere story-teller. 
It is quite impossible to have children like literature at first 
from simply the innate beauty of the expression or the senti- 
ment conveyed. Such appreciation is a "plant of slow- 
growth," but it will come from these simple elementary aids 
to be a matter of need producing that culture which tends to 
the harmonious development of mind and soul. 

262. What is one particular use of literature? 

For the purpose of illustrating a moral truth, miscella- 
neous literary selections may be substituted for the formal 
reading lessons of the text-book. With a little care selec- 
tions may be made that are adapted to any grade of school, 
and to almost any special occasion. The value of the lessons 
derived from these exercises is in direct ratio to the interest 
which may be excited in discussing them. A mere reading 
of the most exalted sentiments, without note or comment, is 
productive of little or no good. Such practice is equivalent 
to the teaching of morals by precept, the ideas failing to 
reach the mind, and the words producing only reflex nervous 
action. 

263. How is the study of literature abused? 

By a devotion to low and sensational literary works. 
Like the growth of a poisonous fungus, the taste for this liter- 
ature absorbs the vital forces and destroys all that is noble in 
life. The teacher should do all in his power to extirpate this 
evil and make every effort to cultivate a taste for the works 
of the great masters of human thought. Experience shows 
that there is no more effectual way to prevent the mind from 
dwelling upon impure and gross subjects than by filling it 
completely with those of an opposite character. 



AND PRACTICE nF TEACHING. 



264. How should literature be taught in advanced classes? 

As a part of human history, and as a result of human 
effort, and such instruction should be introduced objectively 
in the senior grades, and receive a more thorough treatment 
in the academic department under the heads of English Lit- 
erature and General Literature. 

265. What methods are used in the higher grades of schools? 

Frequently the leading authors are arranged in an inter- 
esting chronology, and an attempt made to have this fixed in 
the memory long before the characteristics of each can be 
understood. Their lives also are read, as narrative interest; 
including the mention of their works, the dates and subjects 
of these, with a few necessarily vague expressions respecting 
their merits. This is scarcely lesson work, however; it is 
rather the amusement of growing minds. The teaching of 
the subject has also taken the form of the study of selected 
works from Chaucer downwards. High Schools and Colleges 
are provided w r ith an ample series ot such works, with every 
needful aid in the way of commentary or annotation. 

266. How should the selections be treated? 

The later authors are to be preferred to the earlier, and 
the prose authors to the poets. The first of these two max- 
ims arises from the fact that English prose style has im- 
proved and is improving; while the thoughts and the gen- 
eral interest are still more in favor of the moderns. The 
pupil, at the outset, should see prose at its very best; and 
should be led backwards to the less perfect examples. The 
interest of many of the older prose writers, although not 
entirely exhausted, undergoes an almost steady decrease with 
the lapse of time. 



126 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

267. What is meant by the History of Literature? 

Narrowed to its strict domain, it is the criticism of 
literary works in all that relates to style or composition. 
What makes the history is the regarding of our authors 
(English and American) in a connected series, each having 
more or less relation to the preceding. This historical treat- 
ment of literature is itself a branch of the Belles Letters, 
being always conducted with studious regard to the graces of 
composition. 

268. What is the purpose of spelling? 

During the first year it is entirely to prepare for conl- 
position or " talking with the pencil." Indeed, all spelling 
is for the sake of composition, and it has no other purpose. 
The words first taught on the blackboard in reading, and the 
commonly used and constantly recurring words of the child, 
in short, the script vocabulary, should be the words first 
spelled. It should be remembered that those who do not 
learn to spell when young seldom acquire the ability to do so. 
Consequently make every step with the small child a success, 
otherwise you may disgust the mind with its failures. 

269. What is the proper function of oral spelling? 

To describe word-forms already in the mind; not to bring 
them into the mind by acts of imagination. The most natu- 
ral and economical way of learning to spell, is to write 
words until we can write them automatically. 

270. To what should the child be led in writing words? 

To copy sentences as soon as possible, and after that keep 
to sentences, for they are the written forms of thought expres- 
sion, and the stimulus of the thought enables the child to 



AXD PRACTICE <>F TEA-' HING. 



"7 



recall the word-forms in writing, just as it does in reading. 
Do all this work easily and slowly, and in the doing of it, let 
the child alone and don't "fuss" with him. If he makes 
anything wrong, rub it out at once, make a sort of dissolving- 
view. Have him acquire the power of copying from the 
blackboard with perfect accuracy any sentence he can read. 
Never accept any careless work. Don't scold, but let the 
work vanish under the sponge with quiet celerity and have 
the child do it over. A better vocabulary can be gained by 
writing than by reading. Form, during the first year, a 
nucleus vocabulary of written words, so distinctly fixed in 
the mind that they can be reproduced instantly, without copy 
and with perfect accuracy. 

271. How is correct spelling to be attained? 

By holding your pupils responsible for correct spelling 
in every written exercise; otherwise the habit can not be 
formed. Make and retain lists of words misspelled. Let 
the practice be mainly on such words. Pupils learn to spell 
by practice, not by studying columns of words. Accustom 
them to observe carefully the spelling of words as they read, 
The teacher can stop during the recitation to refer to the dic- 
tionary, or from the abundance of his own knowledge refer to 
the duplicate spelling of a word, or its obsolete use and 
modernized version, and allow them to bring in lists of words as 
test exercises. No pupil should be allowed to write a word 
from dictation unless he knows exactly how it looks cor- 
rectly spelled. Never let him guess, but draw a blank when 
he is in doubt. 

272. What are the benefits of practice in spelling by sound? 

Training the organs of hearing so that children may 
readily distinguish the sounds heard in speaking; that they 



128 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

may learn to produce the sounds correctly in using language; 
and that they may acquire an articulation which shall be at 
once both accurate and tasteful. 

273. What may be said of the relative merits and demerits 
of oral and written spelling? 

Oral spelling secures correct pronunciation, and awakens 
a keener interest in pupils; written spelling is the more prac- 
tical, but is apt to become wearisome if carried on exclu- 
sively. In written spelling, we have the use of the hand as 
an aid to memory. With diacritical marks, the value of this 
exercise is greatly increased, and should be written in con- 
nection with written language lessons and drills in phonics. 
A judicious combination can be made of oral spelling with 
written exercises. With the writing exercise, after the paper 
or slates are corrected, require pupils to rewrite their mis- 
spelled words. 

"274. What are general rules for primary spelling? 

Practice oral spelling of each new word. Keep a list of 
them, and review often. Above all, be guarded against mis- 
pronunciation. Practice a clean-cut articulation, and insist 
upon daily drill, with encouragement to find and write some 
words each day that the pupil can not pronounce. At least 
one word a day should be introduced in sentences written on 
the board, the meaning of which is a blank to the pupil. In 
fact everything taught in the primary school should minister 
to the child's use of language. 

275. What conditions are attached to oral spelling? 

Words should be known by the pupils in their spoken 
form, and in their use before he is required to use them. The 
pupil should spell all the words in the range of his experience, 



! VD PR iCTL E OF TEACH1 \ l2 g 

all he has occasion to use in his daily needs. He should read 
any new word in an original sentence before he is required to 
Bpell it. 

276. By what moans should spelling be taught? 

" J © © 

The blackboard is possibly the best. Then the slate and 
pencil, although the blank book or sheet of writing paper is 
preferable — writing tablets and "scratch" books are to be 
purchased for the veriest trifle — and with great care a spell- 
ing book, if the teacher needs it. 

277. Should the spelling book be abolished from the school 
room? 

It will be quite impossible to do so in the common 
school; no matter how feasible such action may be in schools 
of higher grades. The teacher is unfortunate who can see 
nothing in a book but a succession of words to be spelled, 
and nothing in a word but a string of letters whose chief use 
is to be shouted across the school room. And it is quite 
possible to use a spelling-book so as to interest the mind. 

278. Have new methods of teaching spelling been of benefit 

to the pupil? 

Yes; with the advance of improved methods, instruction 
in orthography has gradually bur radically changed. Within 
the memory of even quite young teachers, in the best 
schools, lists of words were presented to the child for memo- 
rizing, and in very many instances not even the most dis- 
tant idea of signification was entertained. In some cases, the 
Jiberal use of the dictionary and of composition in connec- 
tion with the spelling book, to some extent mitigated this 
evil, but the permanent good at the best was meager, except 
in the case of those whose power of memory predominated 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



over other faculties of the intellect. Many of our best 
schools now entirely discard the "speller," but give very 
thorough drill in the formation of words now occurring in all 
the lessons of the day, but especially in the reader. Another 
important change has taken place. Oral spelling, slow, and 
practically almost useless, has given place to written spelling, 
in which a large class, or indeed four or five classes, can 
individually recite the whole lesson in the time in which form- 
erly the members of a small class could recite but one or 
two words each. Not only is much precious time saved 
thereby, but more thorough spellers are produced. (This is 
a pronounced opinion.) 

279. Should the spelling lessons be kept? 

With primary pupils it is hardly necessary, and where 
there is nothing but slate or blackboard work it is naturally 
quite impossible. With the higher classes, even in the com- 
mon school, it is quite advisable to have the pupils use blank- 
books for their spelling lessons, and the principle should be 
instilled into them of keeping them neat and accept- 
ing them as "records" of their lessons and addition- 
ally as specimens of their penmanship exhibiting, it is to be 
hoped, a noteworthy progress in both studies. Under certain 
conditions in the "district," the teacher will not have the 
power to insist upon an exclusive use of paper, though the 
exercise of tact on his part will help to determine' the matter. 
Naturally he will follow the expressed wishes of his patrons. 

280. W T hat directions may be given to pupils for studying 
their spelling lessons? 

Tell them (1) To look at a word long enough to see it per- 
fectly. (2) Shut the book; think how the word looks, then 
write it upon the slate. (3) Compare the words as written 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



[31 



with the printed page, and make a check against the errors. 
(4) Repeat the process where mistakes have been made, look- 
ing more carefully still at the words spelled wrong, until a cor- 
rect image is made in the mind. It may be remarked here 
that there is undoubtedly a "vain repetition" in spelling of 
giving to pupils almost constantly the words which they do 
not misspell. 

281. Do you have spelling matches or "bees" in your school? 
If so, why? 

It is quite probable that many a teacher devotes too much 
time to this pleasantry; that it has its merits there can be no 
doubt, and it is a fact of self-experience that district schools 
have frequently been taught but little else. The memorous 
Wordwell, of the community, was the leading citizen in an 
educational and always in a popular sense, but it is our duty 
to supplant the constant use of this exercise, even if in 
opposition to the expressed wishes of the pupils and the 
inclinations of the parents, to some extent, by the introduc- 
tion of some other form of mental advancement. Many 
rural communities have gladly accepted, when initiated by a 
teacher of tact, the reading club, the literary circle, and the 
debating society. There can be no doubt, however, but what 
the spelling match contains an element of popularity sub- 
serving some good purpose, aud may be used, at long inter- 
vals, in the graded school and schools of higher instruction, 
as is frequently done. 

282. Does constant spelling necessarily make a "speller"? 

No; the verbal reiteration of long columns of words or 
of words disconnected in sense, produces but very little good 
results. In repetition of a previous statement there should 
be a judicious combination of oral and written spelling, the 



132 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

latter increasing in use as the pupil advances in years. But 
even this will prove comparatively unsatisfactory unless an 
incorporation of the words into sentences is had, and, addition- 
ally, their definitions and use as so defined. 

283. To what does this lead? 

To the formation of a "definition class." It is remark- 
able with what avidity a class of boys and girls of common 
advancement in their studies, and under the most ordinary 
circumstances, will accept the introduction to this praise- 
worthy mental exercise and the amount of work required 
from them for its successful prosecution. If the school is 
without an Unabridged and the teacher is unable financially 
to secure one — though we have known of many instances of 
impoverished teachers securing them as a premium by acting 
as agent in getting subscribers for a paper, collecting a small 
summer capita from the pupils and then adding the balance 
necessary to make the amount of purchase money, even in 
the "backwoods" — try to secure the co-operation of the 
directors or the patrons of the school, or both, in raising the 
sum necessary to buy one. If all this fails, you can certainly 
secure the adoption of some three, four or half-a-dozen copies 
of the smaller grammar school or academic editions. 

284. How is the definition class to be taught? 

Before the class is formed, require pupils occasionally to 
define the simpler words, which they will naturally do to the 
best of their ability, and to construct sentences showing the 
meaning and the use of words. When the dictionaries are 
introduced, give the- pupils a model similar to the following: 
"John came slowly toward his cottage home." The under- 
scored word indicates the one whose definition is required. 
Some five or six sentences may be placed upon the blackboard 






i33 



daily, or simply that number of words, — to be incorporated 
into original sentences by the pupils themselves, — for the 
morrow's lesson. 

. Name sonic of the valuable uses of the dictionary. 
The pupils may obtain a better knowledge of ordinary 
words: (1) Examples of simple words frequently mispro- 
nounced; as aunt, God, won't, want, extant, etc. (2) Ex- 
amples of simple words frequently misspelled; as cupful, 
separate, repetition, until, etc. (3) Examples of simple 
words frequently misused; as don't for doesn't; can, for may; 
shall, for will; equals for equal; etc. In fact, the use of the 
dictionary may be regarded as a variation of the work of the 
spelling and grammar classes, and leads to the introduction 
of the study of the distinct branch, etymol 

280. What else may*be learned from the dictionary ? 

The correct pronunciation of geographical names, many 
of which are omitted from the vocabularies of geographies; 
as Pompeii, Worcester, Balaklava, Trafalgar, Monaco, Bal- 
moral, Alnwick. Seville, etc.; the correct pronunciation of 
biographical names found in the lessons and in current litera- 
ture; some account of the noted characters of fiction; history 
and mythology, whose names are found in the reading lessons 
and in various selections; the interpretation of foreign words 
and phrases frequently met in our readings; and the origin of 
many words in common use referring to customs, persons, 
and events. 

287. What is the connection of the teacher with this study? 
It should be remembered that the best teachers are gen- 
erally those who consult the dictionary most frequently; the 
to be condemned are those who teach error rather than 



I3 4 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

make the exertion to ascertain what is correct and true, and 
those who are disinclined to consult authorities before pupils, 
fearing thus to expose their fallibility. Not only should the 
teacher make frequent use of this book for himself, — he 
' should teach the school the value aud the use of this import- 
ant work, assured that the lessons lie imparts and the habits 
he thus inculcates will be of use to the members in all sub- 
sequent life. 

288. What is the best method of using the dictionary in our 
common schools? 

The teacher should refer to it in all cases of doubt and 
require the pupils to do the same. Pupils should be 
encouraged to write in a note book for future investigation 
all words or expressions about whose spelling, pronunciation, 
or correctness they have a present doubt, (a) meanings; (b) 
pronunciations; (c) syllabication of words, and in advanced 
classes (d), their synonyms which can be found in this book # 
There are some 2,000 words in English as to the pronuncia- 
tion of which there are important differences, and a great 
many of accepted, varying orthography. Preference, there- 
fore, must be given by teachers for the best usage and for 
the simpler forms. 

289. What is connected with this? 

Drills on sounds and the names and uses of the diacriti- 
cal marks — a subject generall}- very little understood, except 
in the North Central States — though these are not necessary 
to the skillful use of the dictionary. Definite drill on sounds 
with chart — the teacher should have them written upon the 
blackboard if he possesses no other '-appliances" — will famil- 
iarize pupils by eye and ear at once, with the marks and 
sounds they indicate. Attention should be given systematic- 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



1 35 



ally to the reading matter at the beginning and end of the 
book. Pupils are in danger of missing these laboratories of 
learning unless made acquainted with them in school. Faith- 
ful teachers will not omit the appendices, both for what is 
curious and useful to the pupils and themselves. 

290. In what respect are teachers deficient? 

It is a fact, too well known for recapitulation, that appli- 
cants for a teacher's certificate, are woefully lacking in the 
triple subject of orthography, orthoepy, and etymology. 
There is no excuse for this, as a strong elementary acquaint- 
ance may be made with these studies at a slight cost,* and a 
thorough knowledge of them tends to increased excellence in 
other and advanced branches. 

291. Name one disadvantage of written spelling. 

In the closely crowded school-room, and such is fre- 
quently the condition, especially in district schools, the 
opportunities offered for "communicating" are increased 
from the nature of the exercise. Additional watchfulness on 
the part of the teacher, accompanied by an instantaneous pun- 
ishment of this violation of a presupposed rule or law — 
unwritten or expressed — is the sole remedy. The form of 
punishment should be a removal from the class and association 
with them for the instant, followed by a marking of demerits 
and such remarks at the close of the recitation as show the 
hurtful and immoral tendencies of the act of transgression. 

292. What may be said of methods of teaching spelling? 
There is yet a problem to solve before we shall be able 

to bring out a generation of perfect spellers. Either a 

No. to, <>r Orthography, Orthoepy, ami Etymology. 



A QUIZ-BOOK OJN THE THEORY 



change in the language itself, or in the methods of teaching, 
must be made. It is certain that after we leave school oral 
spelling never conies into use; Ave use the pen or its equivalent 
— the setting of type. It is believed by many that no one 
thing will aid so much as the study of word-analysis. Mis- 
spelled words should be written in a book that may be pre- 
served, and in a special exercise drill on these words, pupils 
exchanging papers, or slates, or places at the blackboard for 
making the necessary corrections. 

293. What are the "steps" given in teaching written spell- 
ing? 

First, the simple spelling or reiteration of the letters of 
the word; second, the proper division of the word into sylla- 
bles; third, the marking of the letters diacritically; and, 
fourth, the proper accentuation of the word. Though objec- 
tion is offered to the repetition of the syllables in oral spell- 
ing as in innocent: in-in-no-no, i/mo, etc., it is the testimony 
of many able educators that such use secures better articula- 
tion, pronunciation, and spelling. It certainly cultivates the 
habit of carefulness, a very desirable quality in the pupil. 

29-f . Give your method of teaching spelling. 

All new words should be given a special drill in the way 
of using them in statements, and marking the sounds of the 
letters. Let the new words with* some of the more difficult 
ones in previous lessons be placed upon the blackboard. 
Have them drilled upon in a variety of forms. Let the word, 
correctly spelled, be always before the children when you 
have oral spelling. If not, there is danger of heedless 
Tommy spelling chief with the " e" before the "i," and 
inattentive Nellie may do the same, while bright little Jen- 
nie, in the next row, has heard the incorrect spelling twice, 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 137 

and wheD in the evening she is thinking of her lesson, she 
puzzles her little brain with which was right, "chief" or 
"cheif." From this cause, children would receive as many 

wr«»ng impressions as right, when the right is the only one 
they should be allowed to receive. 

After sufficient oral drill upon words have them erased 
from the board, teacher pronounce and children write on 
slates. If the teacher has not time to look over each slate — 
and such work in school hours is a bad precedent — marking 
the incorrect words, she should spell the words, having the 
children mark their own work and correct it; after this is done 
let them spell orally from their slates. Arrange 'once a week, 
at least, to have a written review, and let the teacher look- 
ing over each ^slate thus obtain a good idea of what her 
pupils are doing. This plan will " work well" in primary or 
intermediate schools; in higher grades, pupils should do more 
of the work themselves. 

The written reproduction is preferred to the oral, for the 
reason that if a child has been careless and writes a word 
incorrectly only himself is harmed; whereas, if he mis- 
spelled it orally, he docs an injury to the whole class. 

295. What would vou advise as the best way of teaching 

spelling? Are you in favor of teaching the sounds of 
the letters to primary pupils? 

"I would use no spelling book, but teach all new words 
found in the reading lessons, and any other words from other 
lessons which you may wish to teach. I would have two 
recitations a day devoted to spelling. One in the morning, 
called the "preparation" hour, and one in the afternoon 
called the "reproduction" hour. It is the better plan to have 
the preparation hour the first recitation in the morning, as 
then you can teach all new words the cla^s is to have that day 



I3 8 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

in reading at that time, and they will be nicely prepared with 
the words by the time the " preparation" reading hour comes. 
In the preparation spelling, write all the words you wish to 
teach on the board in a column. Have the class spell each 
word when written orally in concert, but do not have pro- 
nunciation of syllables. There are many forms, of drill 
which are interesting. For example: Have some pupil point 
to any of the words and those in their seats spell. Have 
one name a word for another pupil to find and then spell. If 
small children, have them lind in what words the letter e, o,a, 
etc., occur. After this drill have the class copy on slates the 
words from the blackboard. The teacher must be particular 
to see that each pupil does his work well. Much attention 
should be given to the writing of the words, and a habit of 
writing carefully at all times will be thus formed. Writing 
the words two or three times when there is time is beneficial. 
In the afternoon (reproduction hour) the teacher should pro- 
nounce the words and class write them on their slates. Then 
pupils exchange, the teacher spelling — at times call upon some 
member of the class to do this — and have them correct by 
drawing a line through the misspelled words. In the repro- 
duction hour, blackboard work by the class is helpful, and 
may be used with advantage. 

"I would teach the sounds of the letters incidentally, in 
primary grades. Exercises using sounds of letters are good 
for articulation. E?cereist: j s using the vowels are also hope- 
ful."— A V. Finch. 

296. Give some of the rules for the new spellings. 

1. Omit <i from the diagraph ea when pronounced as e 
short, as in lied, helth, etc. 2. Omit silent e after a short 
vowel, as in hav, giv. etc. 3. Write/ f or ph in such words 
as alfabet, fantom, etc. 4. When a word ends with a 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



139 



double letter omit the hist, as in shal, clif, eg, etc. 5. Change 
ed final to i where it has the sound of t, as in lasht, mixt, etc. 

297. What are the objections to the spelling reform? 

"The objections to a change in our orthography are the 
same in kind which meet the introduction of any improved 
machinery for common work; as the sewing machine, the 
type writer, or the metric system of weights and measures. 
Everybody knows the old way; nobody knows the new. The 
new apparatus is at first imperfect and costly. The old must 
be mostly lost. These objections to the spelling reform, for 
the most part, disappear when confronted with a properly 
constructed phonetic alphabet. The change in the characters 
will be so slight that it will be easy for persons familiar with 
the old orthography to read the new, and rising generations 
will, from necessity, be instructed in both the new and the 
old. Scholars have lost all patience with the etymological 
objection. All true philologists and philological bodies uni- 
formly brand it as a monstrous absurdity, both from a practi- 
cal and scientific point of view/' — J. Baldioin. 

298. Will the proposed change be adopted? 

It is difficult to tell. The objections made to it are in 
their nature based upon different grounds than those usually 
made against "reforms." Professor Lonnsbury, of Yale 
College, speaks of the change as one "which numbers among 
its advocates every linguistic scholar of any eminence what- 
ever, and which, in addition, includes every one who has 
made the scientific study of English a specialty. It may be 
taken as certain, and agreed by all whose judgment is enti- 
tled to consideration, that there are no sound arguments 
against phonetic spelling to be drawn from scientific and 
historical considerations. These all make in its favor. But 



QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



suppose they did not. The prevailing interest in spelling is 
not to be found in historical or etymological considerations — 
a hundred etymologists, a million men and women. The 
objectors are mostly found among the class of half-taught 
dabblers in philology." On the contrary, Dean French has 
written as strongly in opposition to its adoption. 

299. How is orthographic parsing to be taught? 

By a thorough drill in the distinct science of orthogra- 
phy, united with a knowledge of phonetics, accentuation, and 
elementary etymology. The means for acquiring a knowl- 
edge of this are placed within the reach of every teacher at a 
very slight cost. 

300. Should the teacher possess a knowledge of Psychology? 

Most assuredly. That knowledge of human nature, and 
more especially of child nature, is one of the prominent 
characteristics of a successful teacher. It aids in imparting 
instruction, in securing attention, and in exercising easy con- 
trol over the pupils. The psychological principles which 
apply to the work of teaching are the following: 1. The 
intellectual faculties are distinguished from each other in the 
order of their development. 2. The activity of the higher 
powers is conditioned upon the activity of the lower. 3. The 
mind tends to act again in the same way, or in a similar way 
to that in which it has acted before. 4. The mind naturally 
proceeds from the specific to the general; from the concrete 
to the abstract; and other relations which are but a repetition 
of Pestalozzi's laws. 

301. What connection lias Mental Philosophy with the 
teacher's work? 

This and moral philosophy and psychology, should be 



AND PRACTICE OF TE WHING 



I 4 I 



studied by the teacher who desires to attain prominence in 
his profession. There are small manual's upon the subject 
readily obtained, and though the subject may be "dry read- 
ing," the sooner it is recognized by him that there is a Science 
of Education roundel upon mental laws, and that the way 
to true success in teaching can only be found by a close study 
of that science, the sooner and better will he be placed upon 
the royal road of well doing. 

302. How should Natural History be taught? 

In endeavoring to teach science, a method has extensively 
prevailed which admirably illustrates the process of how not 
to do it. The student is referred to a book, instead of natural 
objects, to procure his preliminary ideas in regard to the sub- 
ject. He is required to accept authority, in the place of 
making personal investigation. He learns a formula of 
words, which is said to be a law, or rule, or definition, when 
he is utterly ignorant of the facts upon which the law or rule 
is based, and of the knowledge embodied in the definition. 
The whole performance is a substitution of apparent for real 
knowledge, and, whether resulting from ignorance or design, 
is a practical fraud, by which not only are time and labor 
lost, but the mind becomes so deteriorated as to be unable to 
distinguish between the spurious and the real, the false and 
the true. 

303. What are the uses of natural science V 

They furnish the knowledge which is indispensable for 
the purpose of research into the secrets of Nature, and 
which is the most fundamental of all. The scope of these 
sciences is broad. They make us acquainted with the inor- 
ganic world; with the two grand divisions of the organic 



I4 2 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

world; and with the forces which control the action of mat- 
ter in masses and atoms. 

304. Of what practical benefit is a knowledge of natural 
science? 

As it makes us acquainted with our environment, with 
the relations of our surroundings to ourselves, and with all 
the conditions necessary to be observed for the preservation 
of our own existence, a neglect of the truths taught entail 
upon us disease, suffering, and death. An intelligent com- 
prehension of these truths enables us to avoid, in a large 
measure, the causes of disease, to diminish suffering, and to 
prevent the premature termination of life. 

305. What effect has science teaching upon the pupil? 

It infuses vigor and mental action upon the part of the 
boy or girl. In the district school a five minute "talk" can 
be given upon the rudimental facts in general science, and 
this, supplemented by a "query box," has never yet failed as 
an element of popularity, interest, and increased strength in 
the school and its progress. David P. Page, in his Theory 
and Practice of Teaching, gives a most interesting sketch of 
a lesson upon an ear of corn, under the suggestive title of 
" Waking up Mind." This work was first published in 1847, 
and the lesson in question was one of the first expositions of 
the nature and value of object-lessons ever made in this 
country. 

306. What defect in teaching do scientific studies remedy? 
It is probably the case that much work done in the 

school-room is of a fragmentary character; that although it 
arouses the attention and trains the observing powers, it 
often fails to show the relation of one lesson to another, and 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



H3 



to give that connected chain of thought that scientific reason- 
ing will. 

307. What special benefit is derived from the study of 
Physics, Chemistry and Physiology? 

From these sources flow innumerable streams of fertiliz- 
ing information, diffusing themselves in all the arts and con- 
duct of life. Not only are they at the basis of many special 
crafts, but they provide guidance to every human being in 
endless variety of situations. For some kinds of knowledge 
we can trust to a skilled adviser; but every denizen of 
the globe needs perpetually to apply physical, chemical, or 
physiological laws, in circumstances where no adviser can be 
near. 

308. What can be taught in connection with Natural Phi- 
losophy? 

Without a text-book even the teacher should be able to 
impart instruction in the applications of this science appar- 
ent in the familiar operations of everyday life. The man- 
agement of household tools and implements; the circulation 
of water and the principles of hydrostatics and hydraulics; 
the gaseous operations in the admission and the egress of air, 
in warming and ventilating, and in the use of coal-gas for 
illumination. 

309. What practical chemistry can be taught? 

A certain amount involving a knowledge of the corrod- 
ing effect of acids and of alkalies, the solvent action of 
spirits of wine and of oil of turpentine for varnished sur- 
faces that are unaffected by water, the protection of dresses 
and of furniture from dangerous chemicals used in household 
work; as well as many things connected with washing, with 



i 4 4 - 4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

cookery, and with the keeping of household stores. Life 
may be saved by simply knowing that lime thrown down an 
unused well or opening, will destroy the fatal carbonic acid 
gas by converting it into carbonate of lime. 

310. What branch of study is almost entirely neglected in 
our common schools? 

Physiology. This assertion does not apply to the schools 
of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Kansas, where 
this branch of study is required by law in examination and 
teaching, but in a great majority of the States it is an un- 
known factor in education. Many graded schools and some 
district schools in which Algebra, Physical Geography, 
Physics, and other advanced branches are taught, do not 
have "the science of the body" enrolled in their list of studies. 

311. What are the important results of this study? 

Those embodied in practical measures as to the need of 
pure air, sufficient and wholesome food, alternation of rest 
and exercise, the dependence of the mental powers on bodily 
conditions, and the sanitary conditions of the school room, 
with their influence upon the mental and moral natures of 
the pupils. 

312. How should physiology be taught? 

The best means of studying this subject, and, indeed all 
the Natural Sciences, is by outlines prepared by the pupils. 
These will, in some cases, be " Study" work, frequently 
" Revieios" and will always enter partly into "Examina- 
tions" 

313. With what results is this " method" followed? 

The effort to grasp the subject for the purpose of arrang- 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



145 



ing its heads in logical order, such as the outline requires, 
soon gives the pupils such a mastery of the subject of a lesson 
that any one, when called upon, will take up the proper 
topic, and discuss it fully without question or suggestion 
from the teacher, but usually with correction and criticism 
from his fellow pupils. 

314. What primary instruction may be given? 

The very simplest explanation of how we live, explain- 
ing the uses of the heart and lungs, locating and naming 
some of the principal bones, arteries, etc.; with particular 
lessons, lectures or talks on exercising care of the eye and 
preservation of the general health. 

315. Of what value is a knowledge of physiology to the 
teacher? 

Even if he does not teach it nor expect at any time to 
give instruction in this deeply interesting study, he will gain 
a knowledge of its application to the pupil when to induct 
him into the use of a certain study. For instance: Anato- 
mists tell us that the brain grows with great rapidity up to 
seven years sf age; it then attains an average weight of forty 
ounces (in the male). The increase is much slower between 
seven and fourteen, when it attains forty-five ounces; still 
slower from fourteen to twenty, when it is very near its 
greatest size. Consequently, of the more difficult intellectual 
exercises, some that would be impossible at five or six are 
easy at eight, through the fact of brain-growth alone. It 
often happens that you try a pupil with a peculiar subject at 
a certain age, and you entirely fail; wait a year or two, and 
you succeed, and that without seemingly having done any- 
thing expressly to lead up to the point; although there will 



LO 



I 4 6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

inevitably be, in the meantime, some sort of experience that 
helps to pave the way. 

316. What may be required in addition to the " outlines"? 

Neat drawings of the parts of the human system should 
be frequently requested and preserved by the teacher for 
grading and contrast. Many pupils can draw well if oppor- 
tunity is afforded them, and it will be found that good or bad 
drawing is a most efficient aid to thoroughness and definite- 
ness of knowledge. 

317. What may be said of School Hygiene? 

There is, states a leading authority, a movement all 
along the school line upon the subject of hygiene. School 
houses are overhauled, and any infringement of sanitary laws 
mercilessly exposed. The proper directions for seating pu- 
pils with reference to light, the floor, space, and air supply 
of rooms, the sanitary conditions of play-grounds and out- 
buildings, the limitation upon study and study hours, all 
these are the preliminary steps of investigation. The physi- 
ological conditions of the pupil are the ground work of the 
discussion. tk No theory of education is satisfactory that 
does not claim the whole child." How to get the greatest 
possible good with the least possible harm out of school life, 
for both mind and body, is the present problem in education. 

318. How has the subject been taught? 

Where in use it seems to have been generally regarded 
as somewhat of a useless complement or as an occasional sup- 
plement to other studies. No attention has been given to its 
purpose as a "moral factor" in teaching boys and girls the 
right knowledge of its practical application to the daily needs 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



M7 



of life, and of the evil consequences arising from a neglect of 

an observance of the laws of nature. 

319. What moral lessons are to be instilled? 

Every teacher in whom there is a spark of patriotism 
and righteous care for the children in his charge must see the 
necessity there is that they should not only be warned against 
the evils of intemperance, but taught to despise alcoholic 
drinks and stimulants, and narcoties of all kind. The lessons 
should be given both directly and incidentally as the occasion 
is offered. The two States of Xew York and Michigan now 
insist upon a thorough knowledge of this subject from the 
teacher and a capability of imparting to the pupil the evil 
effects of all these death-dealing drugs upon the human system. 

320. What other division of the subject can be taught? 

What to do in case of accident. The power to be able to 
act promptly and rightly in case of an emergency is one of 
the grandest ever given to mortal, and a youth may be taught 
this important knowledge. 

321. What is the teacher's duty"/ 

Children should not be allowed to grow up in ignorance 
of the most important health requirements. But there is a 
prevailing lack of knowledge of the subject everywhere at 
present. Men and women whose views on other subjects are 
given with a meaning, the result of earnest thought, on ques- 
tions of hygiene, show a degree of ignorance which, to the 
professional man, woidd be ridiculous. 

322. Why has the study of physiology been pronounced 
" dry and repulsive"? 

Simply because teachers neither know how to teach nor 
pupils how to learn. Co nmntting to memory the chapters or 



Ia& A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

divisions of a text-book is wrong. The error consists in tax- 
ing the memory with that which is neither deducible from 
a process of reasoning, nor associated either by laws of 
similarity and contrast, or evident co-ordination and subordi- 
nation. That system of teaching which appeals to the 
memory alone, will certainly fail to educate. 

323. How should the teacher exercise care of pupils? 

This is a practical demonstration ot physiological knowl- 
edge that receives attention in our larger cities and towns 
principally from the fact that suggestions made by the super- 
intendent and rules adopted by the board of education, bear 
directly upon the observance of such attention on the part of 
the teacher. But in many of the smaller towns and villages 
teachers never give a thought to the health and comfort of 
the children committed to their care. 

324. What should be the teacher's first care? 

As even many of the larger children do not realize the 
importance of putting on their garments before leaving the 
room, but will often defer "wrapping up" until the open air 
is reached, or hastily arrange them while passing out of the 
building, it is the teacher's duty to see that sufficient time is 
allowed for the putting on of overshoes and all other "pro- 
tections" that have been provided. 

325. Why is this attention demanded from the teacher? 

Because children fail to realize the difference in tempera- 
ture existing between the atmosphere outside of the building 
and that within; and although they may be old enough to 
properly attend to their wrappings they are naturally inclined 
to be careless. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



'49 



326. What relation does this subject bear to the teacher as 
an individual? 

To teach well requires a sound body. This is one of 
the first requisites of a good teacher. Mens sana in corpore 
sam ("A sound mind in a sound body") is a well-established 
axiom. Though it is not necessary that he should be a prac- 
tical gymnast or a teacher of physical culture, a knowledge 
of calisthenics should be his, and a few minutes drill in this 
mild exercise will create a feeling of rest, vivify the sluggish 
and apathetic nature of your pupils on a dull winter's after- 
noon, and cause them to turn to their studies and recitations 
with renewed interest. 

327. What are the benefits of calisthenic exercise? 

"If properly directed," says Dr. Austin Flint, Jun., of 
New York, himself famous for his fine physique, "gymnas- 
tics will enlarge and strengthen the muscles of the trunk, 
legs, arms, and neck, will expand the chest, so giving the 
lungs free room to play; will render the joints supple, and 
impart grace, ease, and steadiness of carriage, combined with 
strength, quickness, and elasticity of movement." 

328. What fault is to be avoided by the teacher of physi- 

ology? 
That of making a constant hobby of this interesting 
science. Each profession is inclined to think its own work 
the most important. So in educational matters, the mathe- 
matician worships figures; the grammarian, words; the his- 
torian, dates and deeds, and the geographer tries hard to 
make of his study a universal science. A Louisiana profes- 
sor of physiology and hygiene, however, thinks he has dis- 
carded all prejudice when he writes: " Common sense would 



n;o A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

convince one that it is better to teach a child something of 
the great stream of blood that flows through his own body, 
than of some stream of water which flows through his coun- 
try; and to teach him something of the abuses to which his 
own body is daily subjected by himself, his parents, and his 
neighbors, than of the abuses to which his ancestors were 
once subjected to some despotic ruler, unjust law, or great 
misfortune." 

329. How is the school-room to be ventilated? 

The usual plan adopted is to open the windows or swing 
back the door. Sometimes this is the very best and the only 
thing to do. Our school houses all over the land need better 
ventilation — automatic, if possible — that is, such as will 
regulate itself. 

330. Have new methods of ventilation come into use? 

Yes; into a few of our new and expensive buildings, 
improved methods are being introduced, and generally in con- 
nection with the heating. The favorite plan has always 
been to have in use a movable bound pane of glass swinging 
on hinges. There is no chance to allow the airs of heaven 
to draw through the mental warehouses, or tight brick walls 
of the old-time school house in village or town. 

331. Give a method for ventilating the school room. 

When there would be danger of a too sudden cooling of 
the room, or the making of a dangerous draft by opening 
doors or windows, then the following plan can be used: 
Raise each window about six inches, and in the open space 
beneath the sash lit a plain board, leaving it short enough to 
be removed at pleasure. Upon this let the lower sash rest. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



332. How may this method be improved? 

This simple "expedient is already known to many, but its 
ventilating capacity can easily be more than doubled by a 
simple modification of it, not so widely known. Tims where 
more air is wanted, but a direct horizontal draft from the 
bottom of an open window is objectionable, then fit the 
board into vertical slots fixed to the window casing a few 
inches from the sash and resting on the sill. 

333. What may be said of physical training in the school 

room ? 

It is necessary, as no where else will the majority of pu- 
pils receive the necessary attention. Within the past few 
years great attention has been given to the development of 
the child's physique in the schools of many of the "centers 
of wealth" and with much benefit. There is, of course, still 
a feeling of conservatism amomg school committees and di- 
rectors. The proper teaching of physiology in connection 
with physical culture, can not but be attended with the best 
results. 

334. What may be taught in connection with this subject? 

As a form of life, primary instruction may be given in 
botany, of so-called " plant lessons." Secure the attention 
of the child and cultivate its powers of observation by hav- 
ing them study the germination of little sprouts, and notice 
for themselves what has taken place. Question them of the 
number of parts they may find, where one part has grown, of 
its name, tell them of the stem and leaves, give them seeds, 
and instruct them niton their divisions. Explain to them how 
the little plant gets its food, and how it obtains it from the 
earth. Illustrate by having some very small piece- of sponge 



152 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

tied to strings and the strings tied together, and dipping the 
ends in water, show how the sponges suck up the water. A 
first lesson in capilarity. 

335. Where can this be taught most successfully? 

In the country school. Learn the names of every way- 
side flower, both botanical and provincial designations, and 
teach them to the little folk, who will remember such in- 
struction longer than their arithmetic or grammar lessons; 
will gain as much discipline in learning it, will enjoy it bet- 
ter, and will be none the less proficient in other studies be- 
cause of this systematic diversion out of school. 

336. How is the teacher to make proper preparation for this 
instruction? 

There are books now published that enable one to supple- 
ment his knowledge of plants, and if he or she or both will 
begin with the wayside flower of the early spring they can 
grow with its growth and multiplicity without apparent effort. 

337. What may be said of the influence of scientific studies? 

W T hile it must be conceded that force of expression and 
facility in the communication of thought are best to be ac- 
quired through the philosophical, dialectical, rhetorical 
studies and exercises which in the main compose the curricu- 
lum of the older institutions of our country, the teacher must 
know that we live in an age of science study, and that the 
faculties of clear perception, of careful discrimination, and 
of just generalization are developed by the study of natural 
history, of chemistry, of physics, as they can be through no 
other educational means. 

338. How is the perfection of ventilation to be reached? 



AXI> PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



53 



When the air of a room is as pure as that out of doors. 
To accomplish this result, it is necessary to allow for each 
person eight hundred cubic feet of space, while ventilation is 
going on in the best manner known. 

339. What is of the utmost importance to the teacher? 

The careful use of all means tending to his own health 
while watching for myopia, color blindness, the stooping 
posture, weak chests, and sinking shoulders among his pupils. 
" There is no kind of achievement you could make m the 
world that is equal to perfect health. What to it are nug- 
gets and millions? The French financier said: 'Why is 
there no sleep to be sold?' Sleep was not in the market at 
any quotation." — Thomas Carlyle. 

340. What is a practical illustration of the uses of hygiene? 

As injury from burns are very common, every child 
should know what is to be done. It is found that after a 
large burn the blood becomes thick and does not flow. As 
this results from the absence of blood-water, owing to its 
rapid exudation from the inflamed surface, the treatment 
should be to arrest this flow and soda and water put on. 

341 . By what method can geography best be taught in the 
country schools? 

By the usual mode of recitation from any good text- 
book of the grade adapted to the age and capacity of the 
pupil, with oral explanations of wall maps and a good globe. 

342. Why should a pupil be taught the geography of his 
home before he is taught that of the earth? 

Because he can comprehend that which he can see better 
than that which he can not see, and you can give him an 



I 5 4 A QUIZ-BOOK 0N THE THEORY 

idea of the general surface of the earth by showing him par- 
ticular portions of it. Also, it is of more importance that 
he should know his own locality, than it is for him to know 
all about countries " across the sea," and yet be ignorant of 
his own immediate surroundings. 

343. How would you show a child that the appearance of a 
ship at sea is a proof of the earth's rotundity? 

By a drawing on the blackboard, or by calling its atten- 
tion to a carriage or wagon coming or going over the hill. 

344. What should be the method of teaching geography? 

That of retaining the pupil's interest. The study of 
the continent of Asia may be irksome to a pupil who has 
little or no knowledge of geography, while the study of the 
township or county in which he resides may be to him a 
source of great pleasure. 

345. Should the subject be studied in detail? 

No; only by the topical method can it be of interest and 
benefit. Supt. Luckey has stated that in Pittsburgh's public 
schools the geography was only a book of reference, the 
daily newspapers being the means by which this branch was 
taught. By being made familiar with the news, the children 
associated places and events and seldom forgot either. 

346. What are the conditions of primary geography teach- 

ing? 

It is to be remembered that much more opportunity is 
offered for oral instruction in the lower departments of a 
graded school, than in simply a building of one or two 
rooms. The purpose is to have the pupil when the name of 
a country or product is mentioned, to go in imagination to 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



5F, 



that region, and not to the side of some map on a certain 
page. Taking a primary class by surprise and asking them 
to point to the North, they will, in many instances, point to 
the ceiling, for that the top of the map is north, has become 
a habit. 

347. What is the origin of this fault? 

It arises from the fact that even among the leading 
pupils there is a habit of referring everything to a map, that 
leads to unavoidable errors. The ordinary boy or girl will 
frequently decide that Paris is west of him, because it is on 
the left side of the map. 

3474. How is the study of geography to be introduced to 
the pupil? 

The approved way is by drawing the picture of the 
school-room, the yard, town, city, etc., and then by the 
moulding-board go <>n to form and illustrate the continents. 

348. Describe a "recitation" at the moulding-board table. 
After securing loam — moulding sand from the foundries 

is preferred — moisten it sufficiently and just so much that it 
will not stick to the hands and yet retain the form given it. 
Take for the first trial. South America. Let five or six pupils 
go to the moulding-board' while the rest of the class stand 
near to suggest and citicise. Direct the pupils, letting them 
use their hands or flat pieces of wood, to put ihe loam on the 
board into such shape as will represent the outline and sur- 
face of the continent. Let the pupils work, and if, after a 
while, the lesson lacks point, suggest what to do, and even 
trim the outline here or there, or change the surface. For 
aid have a wall map before the class all the while, and use 
also the relief maps as found in Appleton's, Swinton'g, or 



156 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

Monteith's Geographies. The first trial may not be very suc- 
cessful, but practice will cause the pupils to improve, and 
after two or three trials a fine model will be produced. 
When moulded, lay pieces of colored worsted upon the 
moulded continent for rivers, and round pieces of paper for 
the cities. 

349. How has primary geography been taught? 

Facts are most readily stored in children's minds by 
means of picture or anecdotes, and many successful teachers, 
of this grade, have taught by a generous supply of stories, 
taking their class " a trip around the world in less than eighty 
days" as a general review. As in the case of the moulded 
continent of South America, pupils were asked to bring in 
from home some salt petre, cayenne pepper, coffee-berries, 
wool, pieces of iron, something to represent gold and silver, 
leather, tobacco-leaf, bits of glass for diamonds, etc., and 
these placed in their proper localities upon the "mould" as 
representative products; so in this primary class the pupils 
utilized their knowledge of the zoological garden by locating 
the animals, and brought to the school-room specimens of 
tropical woods and fruits, curious bits of Chinese or 
Japanese embroidery or painting, pieces of fine India crepe 
or muslin, a beautiful brocade and other specimens. 

350. How else may this method be advanced? 

By obtaining a large collection of the products of our 
own country; various ores from the mines, fossil plants in 
coal measures, pictures of mines and miners, with a descrip- 
tion of one or two noted mines, specimens of bark, leaves, 
stones, salt, the various metals, and labeling them with the 
name of special district or districts in which they may be found. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



351. When should map drawing be commenced? 

From the earliest moment. Primary classes can be 
trained in this useful adjunct, and a' rapid development of 
the drawing faculty is most always seen in the higher 
grades. When pupils can draw most excellent maps, ac- 
curate in outline and artistic in design, from memory alone, 
the highest perfection of geography instruction has been 
reached. 

352. Should maps be used in giving primary instruction? 

It is the method of some of the best teachers to discard 
their use entirely for the first two or thrfee years. They make 
the sun the object of reference in reality. Having made the 
pupil discover where the sun rises, they take him in imagina- 
tion on board an ocean steamer, and sail seven days and 
nisdits toward the rising sun until he is shown a new land — 
Ireland or England. 

353. How are geographical cabinets formed? 

Teachers who have taken these imaginary "trips" with 
their pupils, have kept the specimens, distpibuted by them- 
selves and the pupils, in a box or case on the east side of the 
room while traveling toward the rising sun, and a similar 
collection on the west side of the room indicating the articles, 
curiosities, specimens and products of the countries visited 
while going toward the setting sun. 

354. How can the " cardinal points" be practically taught? 

The direction of east and west naturally from the 
rising and setting orb of the day. The north can be found 
by observing their shadows at noon, and better yet, by be- 
coming familiar with the position of the north star. In all 
this primary work the imagination has had full swing, and 



1 58 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

best of all, the habit of referring everything to its proper 
place on the earth's surface, and not to some page or spot on 
a map, has become fixed. • 

355. How should map-drawing be taught to small children? 

As they find it difficult to understand the measurements 
well enough to copy a map from the board, a text- book 
should be given them. If it is inconvenient or impossible to 
furnish them with a geography containing suitable maps for 
drawing, the teacher will find a writing pad a great blessing. 
Drawing the map, measuring always by the inch, . they ink 
it, place it upon the pad* and print off as many copies as are 
needed. 

356. What should be the first instruction in map-drawing? 

That of their immediate surroundings, the. townships, 
counties of the state, and state. Some teachers have intro- 
duced this exercise by having the children draw a map of 
the school house, calling upon them to make the necessary 
measurements and to copy the map after it is drawn. 

357. What has been given as an elementary exercise? 

The class is divided into companies of four, and each 
provided with a large board, a basin of sand and some sticks 
with which they built a representation of the school house 
and the fence around it. The pupils are sent after twigs of 
pine to put in for trees, and whenever a dispute arises as to 
the location of anything, one is sent out to investigate. It 
will be a noisy exercise, but full of practical interest to the 
children. 

358. By what may this be followed? 

Taking the next district in a similar manner, telling them 



AND I'll M "VICE OF TEACHING 



l S9 



about the school officers, and placing a list of their names 
upon the board to be copied by the pupils, as well as the 
name of any hill or creek that may be in the district. Suc- 
ceed this by a description of the town or township and 
county, etc. 

359. How much time should be devoted to this^exercise? 

Two days may be allowed for the drawing of the map, 
and one for the copying of names. The class exercises con- 
sist in learning the directions and locations, " talks" about 
the resources and occupations, and in connection with the 
State, something of the history of it. 

360. ' What is the "new method" of studying geography? 

To illustrate by a veritable class recitation, the pupils 
are studying the shape, surface, and general features of the 
continent of Australia. One of the class is appointed to act 
as a scribe, and write out the facts as learned. The pupils 
are supposed to have read their books, and are now up for 
examination. On a table before the class is a pile of brown 
moulding sand. The first step is to spell the name Aus- 
tralia. 

361. What are the succeeding " steps "? 

The study of the shape of Australia, its surface, moun- 
tain ranges, and plains, is performed entirely with the mould- 
ing sand. Each pupil volunteers a fact concerning the mat- 
ter, and illustrates it in the heap of sand. 

362. How are errors made by the pupil to be corrected? 

If there is a mistake made there is a vote taken to see if 
the majority of the class can correct the error. Every sub- 
ject in geography is illustrated on the table. The child is 



160 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

not told to read in a book that "an island is a portion of 
land entirely surrounded by water." These children are 
given a lump of clay and instructed to make an island of 
clay on the table, and then to cover the top of the table with 
water, to show that the island is really surrounded by water. 

363. What is the true idea in geography instruction? 

That pleasant associations must be made to cluster about 
all the dry details of the study of this subject. The earth 
must not be considered merely as a skeleton. It must be 
vivified with life. The teacher should travel with the pupil 
in imagination. 

364. In what are teachers lamentably deficient? 

In a lack of being sufficiently practical in their methods 
of instruction. The leading facts and terms of descriptive, 
physical, and mathematical geography can all be learned 
within a few miles of every school house in the land. 

365. Should memorizing of the text be allowed? 

Never. Pupils have been taught to memorize indis- 
criminately, and without any appreciation of the meaning 
involved, whole pages pertaining to distant countries which 
they never expect to see — possibly hope they never will — 
while they are kept in profound ignorance of the natural, 
historical, political, social, commercial, religious, and educa- 
tional facts and statistics of their own township, county, or 
State. 

367. What forms the basis for all accurate geographical 
study? 

Mathematical geography; for by the knowledge we ob- 
tain of the earth in its relations to the other members of the 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 161 

solar system, we are enabled to form clearer conceptions of 
the laws that govern terrestrial phenomena. 

368. How can the monotony of a geography recitation be 
relieved'? 

Use a copying.pad that will give forty or fifty copies. 
Draw a map — the State of California for instance — and 
mark rivers by letters, and twenty cities by figures. Desig- 
nate the coal, gold and mineral sections. Give a copy to 
each pupil and have them recite by calling the numbers, and 
answering by mentioning the name of the place, and vice 
versa. 

369. What other "diversions" can be used? 

Copy off the most common words, cut in slips of five or 
six, and give them out to be copied and marked with accents, 
diacritical marks, syllables, and have them formed into sen- 
tences. 

370. Give a common method of teaching geography? 

The teacher assigns the lesson, probably a half column 
of map questions for review. For instance, on the map of 
Africa, the cities, capes, lakes, rivers, and mountains are given 
as the subject. All must be learned alike — committed to 
memory. The pupil must be able to tell in what part of 
what country, and on which side of what river each city or 
town is situated. 

371. How does the teacher conduct the recitation? 

During the class hour she sits at her desk with her book 
open before her, one index finger carefully keeping the place 
in the column of questions, the other industriously racing 
around over the map, like a bound hunting a lost track, try- 



1 62 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

ing to find the place, in order to be able to say "right" or 
" wrong" when it is located by the pupil. This gives the 
latter an excellent opportunity to take a peep at a concealed 
book to refresh his memory. Thus the whole list is asked in 
the exact order of the book — not one place omitted. The 
next lesson is assigned and the class is dismissed, apparently 
as well satisfied with the performance as the teacher. 

374. What is your method of teaching geography? 

Select from the list the places that are most important 
from a commercial or other standpoint, arouse the interest 
of the class by giving a short description of some city, or of a 
noted structure in some country — e. g., the pyiamids of 
Egypt, or the ruins of Thebes, or the great Suez Canal, the 
Kremlin of Moscow with its King of Bells, the Bank of 
England, or the Brooklyn Bridge — encourage them to learn 
from the Encyclopaedia, Pronouncing Gazetteer, books of 
travel, or other sources, interesting descriptions of the peo- 
ple, products, animals, and " curiosities," the origin of 
names, and the "history and romance" of the country. In 
the recitation the pupils are encouraged to tell what they 
haye learned about the places mentioned; one pupil is sent 
to the outline map, pointer in hand, to indicate the places 
designated. 

376. How may this method be improved? 

By the introduction of map-drawing When the lesson 
is assigned, the teacher draws the map on the blackboard, 
taking the pupils on an imaginary voyage as he draws the 
outline, marking the principal gulfs, bays, capes, and cities 
along the coast as he comes to them, stopping occasionally to 
throw in a lively description, to retain the interest of the 
class. When the coast is completed, a journey is made 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 163 

through the interior, locating in order, the principal cities, 
rivers, lakes and mountains. 

378. When should reviews be given? 

A little time — five or six minutes — is always taken at 
the beginning of the recitation for a rapid review of previous 
lessons. At the close of the recitation, and before assigning 
the next lesson, a few minutes are allow T ed for criticising the 
maps that have been drawn on the blackboard, and grading. 
Some of the best maps drawm on paper are used for orna- 
menting the room. 

379. What aid may the teacher secure in teaching geogra- 
pin- 

If he sees an article in the papers on the way the pro- 
ducts of other countries are obtained, a traveler's account of 
adventures, or the descriptions of the customs and manners 
of the people, he should cut it out and keep it to read to the 
geography class. 

380. How is advanced geography to be taught? 

Beginning with the smallest divisions of a country, 
require a given number of the names of the principal natural 
divisions to be written and their location memorized. Ask 
them to learn from the text all they can of the surface, 
climate, soil, productions, and occupations. The next day 
the map is drawn, and, for a class exercise, tell them of the 
history of the country, its noted cities and objects of interest. 
Then read to them some interesting description of the people 
or places. 

381. What may be used in connection with this class? 
Relief maps or models, the best material for which con- 



^ A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

sists of a thorough incorporation of the requisite amount of 
linseed oil with pure Spanish whiting; in other words, good 
putty of the right consistence. The plastic material rolled 
in the hand, is laid of suitable height to represent mountains 
and plateaus. The valleys, rivers, and lakes are then exca- 
vated, and the model is ready. To represent snow moun- 
tains, either plaster of Paris or zinc white may crown the 
summits. A mountain can be shown to be an active volcano 
by a small amount of dry vermillion placed in the crater. 

382. What further representations can be made? 

The ocean is made, upon the planed surface of the board, 
by using oil with chrome green, and the lakes, oil with some 
blue. This system is in practical use among the pupils of 
the schools of Indiana (Mitchell Normal School) and some 
Western States, and is attended with the greatest success. 

383. What study is useful in connection with geography? 

Astronomy, which is more than any other science, valu- 
able to the youth. "None will seize so strongly and fully 
upon the youthful mind. It hardens the body, sharpens the 
senses, practices the memory, nourishes the fancy with the 
noblest images, developes the power of thinking, destroys 
all narrow mindedness, and lays an immovable foundation 
for faith in God. If it should be attempted to use astronomy 
as a means of training the mental powers, as the ancient 
languages are used, how strongly would the young be inter- 
ested in it, and how valuable would be the results. For 
often * the letter killeth.' Here, the unadorned truth of 
astronomy would awaken the youthful mind; then he will 
wonder that great minds could have devoted themselves to 
penetrating the sanctuary of antiquity, instead of studying 



A ND P RA < 'TICE OF TEA < 'HING. 1 65 

the works of the eternal. Astronomy, moreover, forms a 
noble entrance way to geography." — F. Q. L. Greszler. 

385. How is a topical recitation given? 

Placing the word "Races" on the blackboard, for 
instance, have the pupils define the term, and tell why it is 
applied to the different divisions of man. Let them tell 
where they are chiefly found, the features, characteristics, 
etc., of each race in an oral recitation. Having written the 
outline on the blackboard, take up the classes, needs, and 
occupations, throughout the topic. 

387. To what may the attention of pupils be called? 

To the fact that distinctively English names have but a 
slight penetration beyond the Atlantic coast, except in 
Canada. The French follow a well marked line up the St. 
Lawrence and down the Mississippi. Dutch and German 
names give local color to the Hudson Valley and parts of 
Eastern Pennsylvania; and the Spanish have a broad occur- 
rence in the far Southwest. Indian names occur everywhere, 
from the euphonious Minnesota to the doubtful Tuscaloosa 
and the abrupt Oshkosh. This location " of place-names" or 
the study of "geography below the line" is full of interest 
to teacher and pupil. 

388. What do you know of the "new standard of time "? 
Canada and the Provinces are on the sixtieth meridian 

(60) west of Greenwich; Maine to Florida, Ohio to Alabama, and 
the Lower Lakes, on the seventy-fifth (75); the Mississippi and 
Missouri Valleys, the Upper Lakes and Texas, on the ninetieth 
(90) ; the Rocky Mountain Region, on the one hundred and fifth 
(105); and the Pacific States and British Columbia, on the 
one hundred and twentieth (120). The names of the "time" 



1 66 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

are respectively Eastern, Atlantic, Valley, Mountain, and 
Pacific. It is perhaps the most important change that has 
taken place since dollars and cents were substituted for 
pounds, shillings, and pence. Where formerly there were 
fifty-three different standards of time, there are now five, 
and these arranged so systematically that each standard is 
only one hour slower than the time of the next section east. 
It was generally adopted throughout the United States, on 
the 18th of November, 1883. 

389. Who are the most successful teachers of geography? 

Those who mix most of historic, commercial, or scientific 
incidents with their instruction. 

390. What study is the natural ally of geography? 

History, and the two ought never to be separated. The 
former is place; the latter, events. Events without place 
are merely stories. Place without events is simple emptiness. 
Events imply places, but place alone means nothing. History 
includes geography, anol, when well and properly taught, 
gives the best and most lasting knowledge of the latter study. 
Geography, pursued by itself, is one of the most sterile of 
studies, as it affords little mental exercise save to the 
memory, and upon that it makes no lasting impression. The 
use of maps is like the use of the dictionary, a life-long need 
of every intelligent reader. 

391. How should history be taught? 

Lessons in this study should be assigned by topics, and 
not by pages. All verbatim recitations of sentences and 
paragraphs should be strictly forbidden, and the pupils 
should be required to state the facts in their own language. 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



167 



392. How would you teach history in our common schools? 

By topics and outlines. It can not be taught success- 
fully on the memoriter plan. The leading purpose should be 
to awaken an interest in the study that will induce pupils to 
read extensively, and enable them to classify and arrange 
historical events and facts so as to be easily remembered. 

393. How is an interest to be awakened in the study? 

Principally, by supplementing instruction on the part of 
the teacher. Information outside of the text-book, will 
gradually be seized upon with avidity, and a hint from the 
teacher will result in pupils preparing themselves with pass 
books or memorandums, in which they will "note" the 
more interesting facts. Unfortunately, errors in text-books 
of history are the rule and not the exception. 

394. In what way are historical errors to be detected? 

By reference to encyclopaedias, dictionaries, gazetteers, 
and other works of established authority. Smaller books* 
have been prepared for this especial pupose, in which state- 
ments are made from a personal knoAvledge of the geography 
and typography of the scene of the event and the descrip- 
tion taken as given by eye-witnesses or in more ancient times 
from the traditions of the people, or from the writings of the 
first relator of the event. 

396. How is history to be taught in primary grades? 

The leading events in U. S. History, with their dates, 
may be given to the pupils in a series of talks of which 
every "live" teacher will avail himself. 

397. What are the means to be used? 

* Quizzism ; and Its Key. 



1 68 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

The blackboard and the slate. Occasionally, insist upon 
their making a memorandum of some special date. A daily 
drill with a review of previous lessons will accomplish won- 
ders and give the pupil a most thorough preparation for the 
study of the text-book. 

398. What is meant by the ethics of history? 

Nothing else that is taught in the public schools has so 
much to do with forming characters as the reading lessons. 
Especially is this true of the prose lessons in biography, in 
history, and in eloquence, and of nearly all the poetical 
pieces found in the well-edited readers. The teacher of a 
reading class, therefore, may be a moral teacher in the best 
sense of the word; almost without appearing to do so, he can 
inculcate patriotism, truth, honor, reverence, and most of the 
moral virtues. 

399. How is the reading lesson to be used as an historical 
study ? 

If you want your pupils to glow with patriotism at 
recitals of the doings of the boys, real live boys, of the 
Revolutionary times; to hear the dip of the oar and the ring 
of the hoofs of the steed as we read of Paul Revere's ride; 
see the quiet Acadian village and feel the injustice of Eng- 
land when she forced a simple, sincere people from their 
homes, it needs but the beautifully told story of Evangeline 
to bring it all before them. When they learn of the battle 
of Bunker Hill they will be led to enter into Warren's spirit, 
in the lines of the stirring little poem: 

" Stand! the ground's your own, my. braves." 

401. To what does a study of history lead? 

Such a knowledge of history as can be given to the 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 169 

lower classes in school as well as to those more advanced, 
will awaken in the pupil a desire to read such books as w T ill 
not poison their minds by bringing on that mental intoxica- 
tion produced by the trashy literature of the day. This 
introduces the use and study of good literature. 

402. How may the study of literature be made to subserve 
the study of history? 

By making full use of biography and such selections as 
have a historical connection with the subject. Your class 
will hardly fail to respond with feeling, to a well-given 
reading of The Rising, by Thomas Buchanan Read; The 
Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, by Mrs. Hemans. Extracts 
from Bancroft's and Hawthorne's account of the Boston 
massacre will give your pupils a vivid picture of the " lob- 
sters" who entered the quiet streets and brought with them 
riot and death. Have them read Sheridaii's Ride when they 
reach that part of the history that calls for it — and, with the 
story of Barbara Freitchie, we add one noble character to 
our list of patriotic women, and gain an insight into the 
manly disposition of the brave Stonewall Jackson. 

403. Should the text-book be discarded with advanced 
classes? 

It is probably best to retain it for nothing else than a 
work of reference. Outlines and topical analyses can be 
formed from its contents. The one grand purpose is to turn 
the attention of the pupil to biography, which has well been 
termed "the soul of history." Youth turns to it by an 
instinctive proclivity, preferring it to other channels of 
literature, and by a fortunate coincidence it is the one 
effective medium through which the ethics of history can be 
placed in bold relief. " I would throw away the text-book 



j^O A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

altogether, as sack, and take the subject wholly out of the 
list of text-book studies. I would let no stated formal exam- 
inations be in wait for it, those premiums on narrow, technical 
teachings. The teachers should be free from every trammel 
— free to make the instruction so delightful and winning as it 
may lie within their ability to accomplish. There should be 
no tasking study connected with it — none whatever. It 
should be imparted by means of a carefully selected course 
of reading, by visible illustrations, and by quickening oral 
information out of the stories of the teacher's personal intel- 
ligence. — Supt. Harrington. 

405. Should mnemonics be used in teaching history? 

Systems of mnemonics, by which is meant the method of 
recollecting facts by associating them arbitrarily with some 
order of letters or characters, are generally not to be recom- 
mended, for when the effort to remember is over, the whole 
system is liable to go with the fact. The law of natural 
association is the one to be followed. 

407. How do you assist pupils in memorizing dates? 

By fixing the events, which occur at certain dates, so 
vividly in the mind, through the medium of instruction, 
relation, or reading, that the dates will be memorized as a 
matter of secondary importance. 

408. Should history lessons be read? 

Never make the history lesson a reading exercise. This 
obsolete usage is, unfortunately, too frequently in vogue in 
many of our common schools. 

409. What is to be especially regarded in teaching history? 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



171 



The use of variety , and in no other study can there be 
given as much as in a recitation of this branch. 

410. How is the pupil's interest in the study to be obtained? 

The wise teacher will remember that a pertinent anec- 
dote, judiciously told, will frequently do more to impress an 
historical fact than twenty stereotyped questions that might 
be asked during the same time. 

41 1. How is an advanced class to be taught? 

With larger students, never use a uniform text-book. 
Place the topics for the following day's lesson on the board 
to be copied on paper by each pupil. In the recitations en- 
courage discussions as much as possible. If the class be a 
large one, convert the entire recitation into a debate, dividing 
the class into two divisions, and appointing leaders for each. 

412. What use is to be made of dates in teaching history? 

When prominent dates occur, place them upon the 
blackboard. Call attention to them frequently and use them 
for monthly reviews. Do not insist, however, upon the pupils 
retaining all the dates; it not only consumes valuable time 
but is the principal source of the complaint that the study is 
"dry." 

413. What are the benefits resulting from a study of 

history? 

An English author writes as follows: "I regard history 
as a subject to be taught, from first to last, to young and old; 
as being part of the necessary furniture of the mind for the 
conduct of life; as opening up opportunities for training the 
reasoning and the moral faculties from the earliest ages; as 



172 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

a science of the highest importance to humanity, in which we 
must train many that a few may be real experts, keep the 
sacred fire burning, and hand on the torch undimmed. I 
regard it as a study where formalism, excess of detail, mere 
memory-work, great condensation, are especially dangerous 
and deadly, and may become excessively rife." It should not, 
therefore, argues the writer, be taught for an examination. 

414. What is the great principle in the teaching of history? 

It is in harmony with the thought that all instruction is 
a comparative failure that does not induce much of reading 
beyond the necessarily skeletonized school text-book, how- 
ever high the per cents, may be that are secured in such text- 
book. Many schools offer additional credits to the pupils 
for the reading of Plutarch's Lives, and a corresponding per 
cent, for any biography of ancient distinguished men by the 
Abbotts or any other authors, and sketches of Shakespeare's 
Julius Cesar, Cariolanus, or Mark Antony; Herodotus; the 
historical works of Miss Yonge, Arnold, Merivale, Mommsen, 
and fiction such as the Last Days of Pompeii, The Victor 

Vanquished, Hypatia, etc. In American history, the pupil 
is induced to read Irving's Columbus, and Voyages of 

Columbus and His Companions; Bancroft's History; Capt. 
John Smith's Generall Historie; Palfrey's History of New 
England, and a variety of sketches, to which the teacher 
may make reference. 

416. How should primary instruction be commenced? 

When a child is old enough to know a forest when he 
sees one, or to notice the building of a house, the condition 
of this country and the kind of people that lived here before 
it was discovered by Europeans may be described to him. 
The fact should be emphasized that there were no roads or 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING 



173 



railroads, no steam boats, no mail carriers, no books nor 
newspapers. He may be taught the salient points in the 
history of his own town, and the origin of its name, the 
townships, the county, the state, and as soon as he has a 
knowledge of the geography of his country, the story of the 
settlements of Virginia and Massachusetts. 

417. What then should be the grand object of the teacher? 

To cultivate in pupils a desire for collateral historical 
reading. 

418. What is a noted weakness in our schools? 

The shameful dearth of general information among 
teachers. It is a very unfortunate fact, that many teachers 
know very little of current history. There are some half 
dozen publications, weekly and monthly, that give an accu- 
rate record of the political, scientific, and industrial news of 
the day, and with all this the teacher should keep pace. One 
State Superintendent (Graham, of Wisconsin,) has put it on 
record that " public opinion should call for a reform in this 
particular, and should demand that a teacher who does not 
keep intelligently abreast of the events of the day is not fit 
to take charge of a school." 

419. How may this current history be taught? 

By a free, full, and judicious use of the "News Bulletin," 
to which reference has already been made, and the pinning 
upon the walls or arranging in a case prepared for the pur- 
pose, printed items clipped from the papers, of local or gen- 
eral interest. A school can thus be as thoroughly informed 
upon an Egyptian war, or a tariff discussion, or the progress 
of the work upon the Panama Canal, as any adult reader. 
Their interest will also be shown by bringing to the teacher 



I74 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

clippings bearing upon the subject and a friendly competition 
to furnish " matter" for the bulletin, which they should be 
allowed to enter in their own handwriting. 

420. What form of topical outline is to be used? 

An exact duplication of that used in teaching literature. 
The biographical outline of a noted statesman, warrior, or 
legislator, must ne*. 'ssarily be similar to that given of an 
author. The topic oi a war or wars, or a certain " period" 
may have its divisions and subdivisions separated by brace 
connections as in a grammatical diagram. But this is a 
mere form to be supplemented by a vivifying oral recitation. 

421. What division of this study is sadly neglected? 

That of Civil Government. A growing demand from 
examiners that the youth of the country should be instructed 
more £ully in this fundamental branch of study, is producing 
good results, and arousing an interest which has been 
increased by the recent publication of many text books upon 
the subject. 

422. How should the subject be taught? 

A topical outline of "The Senate " and "The House of 
Representatives" should be presented to the pupil. The 
necessary qualifications of age and time of residence, their 
eligibility, and duties of the senator and representative 
should be firmly impressed upon their minds. Many of our 
best text-books on history show their realization of the im- 
portance of the subject by a set of graded questions in con- 
nection with the Constitution treating of the powers and 
duties of Congress, the " rights " of each separate branch 



A XD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 175 

of the Government, and a definition of the various laws and 
the legal and technical phraseology nsed. 

424. How may the interest of the pupil be increased? 

By having some of the older pupils present in the form 
of a composition, the qualifications, duties, term of office and 
salary of the officers of government and have the same read 
to the school. Select some one to collect from the daily 
papers the acts of Congress, and have him read them to the 
school, from time to time, in the form of an essay, or as a 
simple statement. Furnish to them the biography of some 
past or present noted man, who has represented their county, 
district, or state in the hails of the nation. 

425. How often should a recitation be held? 

It is a wrong principle to delay instruction until near the 
close of the term or the completion of the text-book on 
history. Weekly and semi- weekly drills may be give^i from 
the first few weeks of school. Do not attempt to teach but 
a few of the powers of Congress at a time; have an occasional 
concert drill upon them, and always precede the lesson by a 
review. 

426. What are useful auxiliaries to these studies? 

Charts of history and of civil government, which are 
usually supplied in the schools of cities and towns, and 
occasionally in those of the country. 

427. What is it necessary that the pupil should know? 

A knowledge of the ways in which acts of Congress 
become laws; of the veto power, and who exercises it, then a 
comparison of the powers of the president with those of the 



I 7 6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

governor; whether the governor has the vetoing power or 
not; the names of chief magistrates of other states; and 
finally the names of the rulers of other powers of the earth 
with their forms of government. 

428. What is the sum total of teaching history? 

Study, acquire facts and anecdotes, clothe the skeleton 
outline with data gleaned here and there; if you put enough 
of this work and of yourself into your history class, you will 
be amply rewarded by the lighting of the eyes and increasing 
interest of these young people whom you are to help on to 
manhood and womanhood. 

429. What is the highest form of history teaching? 

That which leads to the study of historical etymology, 
and philology, and the distinct science of ethnology, for an 
enormous fund of history is embodied in the language of a 

people. 

• 

430. How has a knowledge of pre-historic people been 

obtained? 
By reasoning from a variety of objects, pictures, works 
of art, and relics, such as the old Greek drinking horn, which 
while it held from one to two quarts was so made that when 
once filled it must be drained before it could be laid down, 
shows the way that people dealt with the temperance 
problem. Not only, indeed, has this method created our 
knowledge of the mound builders of America and the lake 
dwellers of Switzerland, but it has extended our knowledge 
of people who come within the bounds of modern history. 

431. What should be the pupil's position while writing? 
The body must always be in a position nearly erect, near 



.4 .YD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



177 



to, but never leaning upon or touching the desk. The feet 
must have a direction corresponding to the slant of the let- 
ters. The hands must always be at right angles to one 
another, or in other words an easy, convenient, and healthful 
position. — Spencerian Key. 

432. When should instruction in writing be given to the 
pupil? 

This "neglected art" should receive attention from the 
first, and the pupil be taught to write as he is to read. " Sys- 
tems" of penmanship are not to be drilled into the young 
child. 

433. How may pupils be taught to practice writing? 

They are benefitted in many ways by copying a reading 
lesson or the literature gems the teacher may have written 
on the board, and which they should commit to memory. 

434. How is penmanship to be taught ? 

For primary classes and pupils in the intermediate depart- 
ments of schools it is best for the teacher to devise a set of 
writing exercises that will secure first, free and easy move- 
ments, then the subject of shading, and afterward, attention 
may be paid to angles, height, etc. 

435. Should a manual be used by the teacher? 

Never in giving instruction to the younger pupils, and 
unless judiciously used with the more advanced, its use 
results in the formation of crooked letters, distorted features, 
and cramped and palsied fingers. In this branch of "work" 
practice makes perfect. The blackboard is a far better means 
than the copy-book. 



12 



j^S A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

436. How has penmanship been taught? 

In many of the graded schools of the country, town, or 
city, the writing-hooks are distributed by monitors, and at 
the word of command the pupils take pen, uncover their ink- 
wells, open the day's lesson, and commence to write. This 
lesson covers a designated period of time. Similar com- 
mands are given at the close, the monitors taking the books 
and replacing them in a case or rack used for this especial 
purpose. Seldom, if ever, the teacher passes around to 
criticise, aid, or suggest. This system ensures quietude and a 
clock-like precision of manners, and that is about all. 

437. What drills may be given by the teacher? 

To advance pupils, attention may be called to the angles 
of slant and correction, an exposition of " The Nine Prin- 
ciples" may be given, and the similarity of construction of 
many of the small letters, and the fact that the Capital Stem 
enters into the formation of one-half of the capital letters; 
but movement drills and exercises in forming ovals, con- 
tinuous circles, and all such combinations that are necessary 
to secure ease and grace, and make the ready penman, will 
prove highly beneficial. 

438. What means will secure good writing by your pupils? 
The frequent use of the blackboard in all the recitations 

of grammar, arithmetic, spelling, history, geography, and 
literature. 

439. By what means are primary children to be taught? 
One excellent method is to prepare the slates by ruling 

one side of them permanently, by scratching, as copy books 
are ruled — slates are sold with the lines painted — with equi- 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACH1XC. 



179 



distant lines and three spaces, or with two lines to indicate 
the height of the small letters, and a line above and one 
below to indicate the length of loop letters. Great care 
should be taken to first teach the pupils how to form the 
letters. Teach them to draw straight lines; vertical and 
slanting, equal spaces distant, and one, two, or three spaces 
high on the ruled slate. 

440. How can the pupils be interested in writing? 

Many primary teachers use the method of writing letters 
occasionally to their pupils and have them reply. For this 
purpose a "letter-box" should be kept on the teacher's table. 

411. What division of this subject is neglected? 

That of letter-writing. It is strange that a branch of 
learning so eminently practical and so indispensable to every 
one as this, should be almost entirely unknown as a " factor" 
in our common schools. It is the duty of the teacher to 
instruct in the superscription of the envelope, the correct 
placing of the stamp, the address, heading and closing terms 
of an ordinary epistle. The treatment of the " body" of 
the letter is a matter of composition, grammar, and rhetoric. 
Every year the mails are disgorged of thousands of letters 
containing thousands of dollars worth of property that find 
their way to the Dead Letter Office from a lack of the simple 
knowledge that could readily and easily be conveyed to the 
writer. 

442. What are the uses of drawing? 

The development of observation, culture, and the train- 
ing of the eye and hand. Primary children may be taught to 
d raw the simpler geometric forms, as they are practically by 
the arrangement of sticks on their desks or the teacher's table. 



!8o A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

443. What does industrial drawing represent? 

Objects that exist or are to be made. By its means we 
express ideas that can not be represented in any other way. 
The most practical instruction is that which requires pupils 
to first observe objects, and afterward express what they have 
observed by drawing directly from objects. 

444. How is drawing to be taught? 

Copying, which must necessarily be the first step, is 
often a thoughtless imitation of the result of other people's 
observation. Experience has shown that flat copying alone 
does not give pupils the power of expressing freely their own 
ideas; so that, while useful in certain directions, copying 
should be practiced to a limited extent. If it is impossible 
to introduce a set of drawing books into the school, the 
teacher should purchase for his own use one or two drawing 
manuals, teach the pupils the laws of perspective, from the 
blackboard, and then require a drawing of the trees, houses, 
school-house, and objects of interest about their homes. 

445. What are the benefits claimed for industrial drawing? 

Lying, as it does, at the foundation of excellence in 
industrial pursuits, it can not be too carefully taught. The 
best interests of a free people demand that the daily work 
of the laborer should be considered in shaping the education 
of his children. 

446. Can all pupils be taught to draw? 

Yes; in degrees more or less advanced. It is not a 
" special gift," though naturally, the artist-genius, like the 
poet, is born and not made, and this popular feeling should 
be removed from the belief of the young child. Their work 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 181 

must be inspected and commented upon, and in this there is 
demand for consummate skill. 

447. What should be the length of a recitation in drawing? 

One hour a week, which may be divided in two lessons 
of one-half hour each, or a still smaller division of time. 
Pupils should be forbidden to measure, to rule, to erase 
lines, excepting in mechanical drawings. It should all be 
regulated by instruction from the teacher. 

448. How is drawing usually taught? 

In the majority of the graded and high schools of the 
country, the subject is merely mentioned in the course of 
study to which vague suggestions are sometimes added, but 
these are of little practical value to teachers, who, left with- 
out any intelligent idea of the object or aim of the instruction, 
do little or nothing with it. Even with the employment of 
special instructors, there is no fixed purpose or aim in the 
teaching and the system or method is therefore changed as 
often as there is a change of teachers. 

449. What is the purpose of discipline in a school? 

To exclude that which is bad and unnecessary, so that 
which is good and necessary may have proper attention. 

450. What should be the first aim of a teacher in managing 
a school? 

He should rely upon his ability to keep all the pupils 
pleasantly and profitably employed. 

451. What is the chief object of school government? 

A school can not exist as a school without some kind of 
government, for it must either govern itself or be governed 



!8 2 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

by a teacher. That teacher who succeeds in making a 
school govern itself has reached perfection in this line. 

452. State the advantages and disadvantages of a self-sup- 
porting system in school government? 

The pupil should be led to investigate and to think for 
himself — to be a self -instructor; so the government of a 
school should be a system of self-government, that the 
pupil's moral faculties, or sense of right and wrong, may be 
developed by being called into use. The advantages of a 
self-supporting system are that the pupils are trained to a 
feeling of trust and responsibility from manly and honorable 
incentives, and not forced to proper conduct through fear of 
bodily punishment or excommunication. The disadvantage 
of such a system is that through inefficient administration, it 
sometimes leads to dissolute habits and lawlessness. It is, 
however, Republican in principle, and should be cultivated. 

453. What is the secret of school government? 

It lies almost wholly in the ability of the teacher to give 
every pupil something to do just suited to his capacity. 
This may seem at first sight very easy, but it is extremely 
difficult, and requires much study and great discernment on 
the part of the teacher. To assign exactly the same work to 
a class of twenty pupils is like furnishing the same diet to all 
the patients in a hospital where there may be a dozen 
different diseases under treatment. A successful life usually 
results from the fact that the successful man found the right 
thing to do. Let the teacher remember that school is not 
merely a preparation for life ; it is a }jart of life. 

454. What great principle lies in securing government? 
That kindness must be accompanied by firmness. Say 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 183 

to the pupils only what you mean and keep your word. 
Check the first instances of disobedience. It is much easier 
to prevent an evil than to correct one. If a pupil of whom 
you are particularly fond presumes upon, his familiarity 
and ventures to take liberties not in accordance with thorough 
discipline, reprove him. Do it with tact and he will finally 
admit the justice of your course. Never allow yourself to 
argue with a pupil on a question of duty; unquestioning 
obedience must be the rule. It is a fact that stern teachers 
never fail. 

455. Should the teacher act the petty tyrant? 

By no means. It is generally admitted that the ideal 
teacher is a person of kindly disposition and generous 
sympathies, capable of understanding the feelings of his 
pupils and of appreciating the force of the temptations 
which cause them to disobey. It is only from a strict sense 
of duty that a teacher of this class makes use of harsh words 
or of any means of punishment. Nor can he even refuse to 
grant any trivial but improper liberties without a pang at 
sight of the displeasure which his arbitrary words have 
caused, until he learns by experience the necessity for 
thorough maintenance of just restrictions. 

457. What are the external conditions of good discipline? 

Suitable buildings, freedom from over-crowding, good 
lighting and ventilation, suitable desks and benches, suffi- 
ciency of means for isolating classes, good organization, and 
a well-constructed order of exercises. These tend to greatly 
facilitate and promote discipline, but they are not absolutely 
indispensible, for " good order" has been maintained under 
the most disadvantageous circumstances. 



184 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

458. How is discipline secured with little children? 

It is a fact that they will derive more benefit from well- 
devised educational games to which they do attend, than 
from formal instruction to which they do not attend. It was 
the great merit of Frcebel, the founder of the Kindergarten, 
that he took the pains to ascertain what the primitive natural 
instincts of children are, and that he devised means by 
which those instincts might be utilized for the purpose of 
education. 

459. Should the teacher threaten in order to secure obedi- 
ence? 

No, never; do not use language which implies that your 
pupils will desire to violate the orders you give. Threats, 
so far from inspiring dread, sometimes tempt bold natures 
to commit the deed which is prohibited. Besides, constant 
threats are incompatible with that natural affection and con- 
fidence which ought to exist between the teacher and his 
pupils. 

460. Should the teacher have a set of rules? 

No. The mistake should not be made of asking your 
pupils pointedly to obey your laws, because you as teacher 
make them. Better have no published laws, or "rules," as 
they are more frequently called; but as occasion demands, 
appeal to the reasonableness of those other higher laws that 
will include any petty enactments of your own, as the greater 
always includes the less. Regulations there should be, but 
not " rules." 

461. What are the objections to the "self -reporting" 
system of government? 

The chief objection is that it holds out such strong 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 1 85 

temptation to report incorrectly that the majority of pupils 
are not able to resist it; hence a habit of untruthfulness is 
formed. Again, it is inconsistent, showing a lack of the 
teacher's interest, duty, and attention. 

462. What effect has " appearance" upon securing dis- 
cipline? 

A teacher wearing a new dress, governs more easily 
than when the dress is threadbare. In a school with new 
furniture, clean floors, and good walls, days, weeks, and 
even months, elapse without one word of reproof from the 
teachers. The influence of cleanliness upon the order of a 
school is undeniable, and we all instinctively behave our- 
selves in the presence of beauty. 

463. How would you act in case a boy refused to recite? 

The question of tact is such an all-important factor in all 
the operations of the school-room that we cannot forbear 
frequent reference to this most desirable quality. The fol- 
lowing anecdote will illustrate its use in one special case: 
"George was told that he would not be allowed to leave the 
school-room until he had spelled the word correctly. A 
fiendish look, which the teacher was not slow to comprehend, 
arose upon his face, as he said to a companion, 'I'll keep 
her here all night ! ' A night in a country school-house with 
a vicious boy was not an agreeable subject for contemplation, 
and the folly of making such a rash threat was apparent. 
The teacher therefore put her wits to work to gain by 
strategy what she knew could never be obtained by force* 
Recess passed with the boy in his seat. Just before closing, 
the teacher proposed that all should choose sides. The sides 
were chosen, and, in the excitement of spelling down, our 
contumacious boy fell into the trap set for him by his wily 



1 86 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

instructor. Watching for a moment of preoccupation on his 
part, she gave him the word fawn. 'F-a-w-n', spelled he. 
The victory was gained. The boy was caught." 

So, in the case of a large girl who had been obstinate, 
disobedient, and saucy, the teacher, after lecturing her in 
tones of courteous sarcasm — he had a most excellent use of 
language — in such a manner that he won the entire good- 
will of the remainder of the school, and consequently a 
feeling of opposition to the girl, bade her take her books, 
stand up, and then leave the room. The evident disapproba- 
tion of her companions had completely humbled her, and 
she showed no hesitation in obeying the last command. 
Accompanying her to the door, the teacher mildly intimated 
that neither her parents nor relations would be allowed to 
interfere in the matter. Meeting her a few days after pur- 
posely, he spoke to her kindly and asked her to return. The 
girl burst into tears, acknowledged her error, came back to 
school, and was the model pupil ever afterward. 

In another case, the teacher strongly suggested his 
inclination to assist the young lady to leave by force. His 
strength and firmness, well-known to her and all the pupils, 
caused her to obey in a sulky manner. Going to her parent's 
residence that evening — bearding the lion in his den — the 
matter was "talked over" and the girl was sent back to 
school, behaving ordinarily well to the close of the term. 
Prompt, energetic action, in whatever device the teacher 
may use, is the only absolute rule for the disposition of 
"hard cases." 

464. What principle on the part of the teacher is an aid in 
securing government? 

That of Humor. As the good order and quiet work of 
some schools is due to to the orderly march to and from the 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIXG. ^7 

play-ground, so this feature of a teacher's character will aid 
him greatly, for he that can turn a good-natured laugh on a 
refractory boy, will secure his obedience far more safely than 
by punishing him. How can this quality be acquired? 
With some, naturally, it is innate, and may be further 
cultivated; but this much one can do — keep on the look-out 
for everything humorous that will illustrate the ordinary 
work of the school-room. 

465. How may a bad boy be controlled ? 

To win the good-will of a bad boy is to permit him to 
do you favors. It shows him that you have confidence in 
him and can trust him. In some cases, and under certain 
restrictions, he may be invested with the power of hearing a 
class recite. The bad boy is very apt to have confidence in 
himself, and will make an especial effort to retain your 
confidence in him. It increases his self-respect when vested 
with authority. 

466. What other influence has an effect upon the govern- 
ment of the school? 

The personality of the teacher; voice, manner, and a 
friendly expression. This is the side of allurement or 
attraction. The other side is the stately, imposing, and 
dignified bearing, by which the master can impersonate 
authority and be a standing reminder of the evil disposed of 
the flock. 

467. What line of conduct is to be avoided by the' teacher? 

He should remember that any prominent displays of 
swagger and self-conceit operate against his influence, and 
incite efforts to take him down. Much of course depends 
upon tact; meaning by that a lively and wakeful sense of 



1 88 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

everything that is going on. Disorder is the sure sequel of 
the teacher's failure in site or hearing; but even with the 
senses good there may be absent the watchful employment of 
them. 

468. Name another valuable adjunct to discipline. 

That quietness of manner that comes not of feebleness, 
but of restraint and collectedness, passing easily into energy 
when required. To be fussy and flurried is to infect the 
class with the same qualities. The teacher must know that 
any mistake, miscarrage, or false step on his part is for the 
moment fatal to his ascendency. 

469. How is the discipline of a school impeded? 

By two sorts of pupils; those that have no natural liking 
for the subject, and those that are too far behind to under- 
stand the teaching. 

470. What fact should be fully impressed upon the teacher? 

That the first requisite to successful teaching is ability 
to govern a school. If a school is well taught, good order 
necessarily follows. But a teacher, well armed, may have 
good external order, and do no good teaching. Such order 
is not "Heaven's first law." Perfect silence, unbroken 
stillness, are not in themselves desirable for young children, 
however necessary for good school-work. Giggling and 
tittering should be forbidden as unbecoming, but a genuine 
hearty laugh indulged in by both teacher and pupils for a 
proper reason, may be repeated often with the best results. 

471. How is discipline aided by tact in "seating"? 

The seats of individuals of a class will be determined 
by considerations not always to be made public. Sometimes 



AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING. ^9 

they may be seated so as to make a regular gradation of 
height for appearance's sake. Sometimes the unruly ones 
are placed in front, as a punishment. The privilege of 
choosing seats may be allowed, with the understanding that 
retaining them depends on behavior. 

472. How may the teacher gain the assistance of his pupils? 

By displaying those characteristics that gain their good 
will. The average boy admires decision. It suggests power, 
and he is a great worshipper of power. For weakness, either 
mental or physical, he has only contempt. He also admires 
courage, and he hates sham, or can't, or pretence. When he 
detects these they color all of the teacher's actions. He has 
a well-defined code of honor which must be respected, and 
he admires rigid discipline when it is reasonably enforced. 

473. What is an effective element of disciplinary power? 

Uniform cheerfulness on the part of the teacher, and 
not solemn stolidity. A sick teacher may arouse sympathy, 
but he soon becomes tiresome. A worried teacher is his own 
worst worry. An indifferent teacher soon forfeits respect 
and authority. Petulancy provokes irritation. But a 
constant, all-pervading, genial cheerfulness will win love. 
It means self-control and will command respect. It indicates 
character and will therefore prove the basis of genuine 
authority. It takes the zest completely out of the occupation 
of that youth who worries his teacher " just for the fun of 
it." It is worry that wears, and not work. In a grotesque 
" summing": 

Worry + Work = Leanness. 

Winsomeness + Work — Fatness. 

474. What should be the discipline of the first day of school? 



igo A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

This great point is to be remembered — that you should 
commence on the first day, just as you determine to have the 
term. Any sign of weakness by you is so much more to be 
overcome. The poise and self-control of the teacher, and 
the concentration of many minds, control those who are 
inclined to be restless and inattentive. 

475. Of what should the teacher have a thorough knowl- 
edge? 

Human nature. Many a boy has a "bad name" simply 
because of the rapidly developing faculties within him that 
are seeking employment. Juvenile depravity is not the depth 
of wickedness. Mischief is not meanness; it is misdirected 
energy. The force of temptation and impulse overcomes his 
own choice and power of resistance, while the imprudence, 
ill-temper, or reckless haste of the teacher sometimes prompts 
him to make, an example of such an unlooked for infraction, 
lest advantage be taken of it to overthrow good order. 

476. What object is to be secured by discipline? 

It is two-fold, viz. : School vices must be prevented or 
cured, and school virtues must be cultivated. 

477. What is one reason of " poor" government in schools? 

It is afforded by the fact that young and inexperienced 
teachers find so ready and so general employment. The 
wise and effective government of the school is really a deli- 
cate and difficult work. For, consider how few are the 
accessible guides to the successful accomplishment of that 
work; how subtle and often profound are the principles 
embraced in its philosophy; how varied and perplexing must 
be its practical adjustment; how manifold the difficulties to 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



I 9 I 



be encountered; and how sad may be the results of failure to 
govern wisely and well. 

478. Should the teacher have "pets"? 

Never show any partiality toward a pupil or set of pupils. 
It creates dissatisfaction and tends to the destruction of 
good government. Teachers who gain a reputation for being^ 
"no respecter of persons," in the sense of having no favorites, 
are universally liked, especially in the country districts. 

479. What are the "chronic diseases" of the school-room? 

Stupidity, stolidity, inaptitude for special studies, 
vicious tendencies, rudeness, and indolence. The special 
treatment of these must be a remedy devised by the teacher, 
guided by the time and circumstance. The habit of obedience 
should take the first place in the school. Many teachers of 
morality unfortunately, destroy the good effects of judicious- 
counsel by too much talk, as a chemical precipitate is 
re-dissolvent in an excess of the precipitating agent. You 
must interest your pupils. The law of activity governs this. 
It is to be remembered that like the ancients we must teach 
virtue as well as smartness. 

480. How is indolence in the pupils to be cured? 

Tardiness in coming to school is frequently the fault of 
the parent. The non-preparation of home-lessons is usually 
the result of an injudicious mode of instruction pursued by 
the teacher, and here the simplest remedy is to change the 
teacher. In our city schools these difficulties are settled by 
rules and regulations by which the pupil is suspended, or 
"dropped," or retained in the same grade for the following 
year. 



1 92 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

481. What means are best to secure a full, prompt, and 
regular attention? 

As far as the pupils are concerned by making the school- 
room pleasant and attractive, as any teacher of tact and 
ability should know how to do. 

482. What is considered a proper punishment for tardiness? 

It is sometimes customary to recompense tardy pupils in 
kind, that is, to detain them at the close of the school for a 
sufficient time to exact an adequate recompense; but this 
principle is wrong, and it reacts on the teacher. It is better 
to have your opening exercises of such an interesting and 
enlivening character, that the pupil will feel the loss by not 
being at school in time. 

483. How may the pupil be interested? 

When teachers complain of the general listlessness and 
stupidity of their classes, let them beware lest the cause of 
such widespread indifference may lie in themselves, and not 
in their pupils. Every lesson should be discontinued as soon 
as the pupils show signs of weariness, otherwise the atten- 
tion will flag, and that class will have received one lesson in 
indifference to school work. 

484. How are stubborn children treated? 

The adult intellect is sharper than that of a child. The 
teacher's will-power is, or should be, better disciplined, and, 
therefore, more forceful; but rarely should he attempt to 
hammer down the mere brute will of a pupil by his own 
stronger will. Neither should he use that form of the 
doubtful method called "coaxing." "Coax" him, if you 



AXI> PRACTICE OF TEACHING. ^3 



must, but let it be of that better sort that leads him without 
his knowing it. 

485. What knowledge is of the most use to the teacher in 

these cases? 

That of human nature. Stubbornness frequently arises 
from an awkward bashfulness, especially in the case with 
some overgrown boys of backward knowledge when called 
upon to recite, and this feeling they attempt to hide under 
a mask of lawlessness and vulgarity. The pupil should be 
excused before he or the rest of the school imagine the con- 
cession to be anything else than courtesy on the part of the 
teacher. Talk to him in private; give him a few minutes 
extra for a private recitation at first; have him do you some 
personal favor; do anything that will arouse in him any 
latent element of goodness he may possess. 

486. What is a good motto in the management of a school? 
"Make the child think well of himself." We do not 

mean by this to develop any affectation or conceit, but self- 
confidence in the best sense, confidence in his mental possi- 
bilities, moral heroism, and qualities of disposition. Some 
teachers seem to enjoy "taking the child down," as though 
a great point had been gained when the self-esteem was 
taken out of him. Life has enough in it, from boyhood to 
the grave, to weaken a man's confidence in everything, most 
of all in himself. 

487. Who object to the discipline exercised by the teacher? 

They may be classified as follows: (a) Those who are 
brutal at home; (b) those who can never see any good in 
anybody; (c) the would-be autocrats (of the village and 
country districts); (d) the busy-bodies and gossips; (e) those 



194 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

who dislike the teacher; (f) those who are envious of the 
teacher; ( g) those who never visit the school. 

488. What authority has the teacher in matters of 
organization and discipline? From whom is this 
authority derived? 

In a private school the principal has the authority of a 
contract, implied by the placing of the pupil under his 
charge, to manage his own school in his own way. The 
parties to the contract are parent or guardian and principal, 
the latter acting in loco partitiis during the pleasure of the 
parent. Public School Laws are the authority for Public 
Schools. 

489. What is the whole principle of school government? 

Endeavor to make your school the center of civility, 
politeness and good manners. The true teacher employs the 
forms of the beautiful, day after day, in training the child. 
By ornamenting the school-room with pictures and mottoes, 
and by tasteful dress, she exercises a silent but untold 
influence upon the pupil. There is no limit to the civilizing 
influence of a gentle woman or gentleman in a school. 

490. What are the principal causes of disorder in schools? 

Idleness and lack of proper interest in studies, with 
want of respect for the teacher. The remote but chief cause 
is usually in home training. 

492. Should corporal punishment be inflicted in the school- 
room? 

There are occasions undoubtedly, when it is necessary 
to have recourse to force, but it is a mistake to whip for 
disciplinary purposes merely. Whipping should be used as 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 1 95 

a reformatory agent only. The teacher who resorts to its 
frequent use as a means of securing discipline is either 
excessively lazy or weak. "Much whipping, bad order; 
little whipping, good order; least whipping, best order." 

493. How should the teacher punish? 

It is a mistake to punish without explanation, for as 
punishment is a judicial act it should be administered 
judicially. A boy has the right to know why he receives 
punishment before it is inflicted. If the teacher does not 
take the trouble to give him this explanation in a perfectly 
candid manner, he gives the pupil just cause for regarding 
him as a petty tyrant, who punishes merely for the personal 
gratification it affords him. 

494. When is the teacher amenable to the law of the State 
for the punishment of a pupil? 

When he punishes him in an angry manner so that it 
may be considered assault and battery. 

495. Should children be corrected constantly? 

To punish children for trifling offenses continually, at 
home, or in schools, has a bad effect, It is confusing to a 
child, and does not tend to make distinctions between right 
and wrong which do exist but does between those which do 
not. Strictness alone is not the means to preserve good 
order. A too frequent infliction of punishment is prejudicial 
to good order; it must be inflicted at the right time and in 
the right manner. 

496. How is the bad boy to be treated? 

The teacher should not strive to crush the manhood of 
the child, but create in it the firm resolve to do the right 



196 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

and discard the wrong. A rigid espionage deadens laudable 
emulation; and suspension, in many cases, is a hardening 
instead of a reformatory measure. He is expected to con- 
form to the requirements of the room as a matter of justice 
to the school; that he wrongs the school by his disobedience 
and does himself no good. If he is still maliciously disposed, 
a sound threshing has frequently been a curative agent, But 
the teacher of tact never whips. Sometimes giving the boy 
a "new sensation" will stop him in his attempts at evil. 

497. In what tone should commands be given? 

They must manifest themselves as the law of morality, 
Hot as the emanation of ill-humor and arbitrariness. The 
teacher must present in his own person the fulfillment of 
the precepts which he gives. 

498. What may be said as to the general use of corporal 
punishment? 

As is well known its use has been abolished in many 
large towns and cities (and by law in the State of New 
York), and yet the government of those schools is all that can 
be desired. Good order can not be maintained by its use 
alone, and it should be restricted as much as possible. 
Where children are properly trained at home, its use is 
seldom necessary in school. To the question: Why not 
abolish it altogether? the following answer has been given: 
"As long as the influences of the streets are what they are; 
as long as parental authority is enforced in the manner it is; 
and as long as teachers are limited in teaching tact and 
governing-power, so long must the power to punish corporally 
be given to the teacher." 

499. What are the chief means by which the necessity of 
punishment may be prevented in a school? 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. [97 

In the various ways previously enumerated of clean- 
liness, brightness, color, the personality of teacher, etc., but 
the leading way is to interest the pupils and keep them busy. 
A mild form of punishment is sometimes more effective than 
harsher means. For instance, if the pupil has tried to 
disturb the the well-being of the school by deceit in any 
form, it is logioal that he can be so seated that he can not 
conceal books or papers, and so that the teacher can overlook 
him at all times. 

500. Write a short essay on school punishments, discussing 
the objects of punishment; the principles regulating 
it; proper and improper modes. 

Objects. — The reformation of wrong-doers; the warning 
of those who are in danger of becoming wrong-doers; and 
the manifestation of the teacher's disapprobation of the act. 

Principles. — That punishments should invariably follow 
offences; that all offences should be punished in proportion 
to their magnitude; that each class of offences should have 
its own kind of punishment; that all punishments are con- 
nected to offences as effects to causes. 

Improper Methods. — Those that from their nature excite 
in the pupil a feeling that an indignity has been committed 
against his person, and these imply in the inflictor a loye of 
prolonged torture. 

Proper Methods. — " Kind reproofs; loss of privileges; 
restraint or confinement; humiliation; imposition of a task; 
and actual chastisement with the rod. 1 ' — Pagers Theory and 
Practice, pp. 179-193. 

A teacher should never resort to such personal indignities 
as pulling the hair or snapping the ears of a pupil, because it 
is brutal and endangers the life and health of the child. He 
should never apply such epithets as "stupid," "clown," 



198 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

"liar," etc., because it is not only ungentlemanly and coarse, 
but gives evidence of a brutal nature on his part. Govern 
without whipping. 

501. What is attention? What of its importance in edu- 
cation? How best secured? 

Attention is holding the mind to on© thing, to the 
exclusion of everything else. Adults can and must compel 
attention to what they are doing, and so can children in a 
lesser degree. All school- work can not be made attractive, 
any more than dish-washing can be made fascinating. The 
power to control one's attention is the result of education. 
We are taught to control our attention by that grim, stern 
teacher — experience. We meet with accident or failure in 
work and naturally say, "There! that will teach me to mind 
what I am doing." 

502. What are the means for securing attention? 

The first requisite in securing attention is to have every 
pupil assume a proper attitude; erect, easy, and with eyes 
fixed on the teacher. Everything that is within reach of the 
hand, and that is calculated to divert attention, should be 
put aside. Lounging, and a listless attitude and manner, 
should not be permitted. Should the members of the class 
generally be interested in something foreign to the lesson, 
like a game in which they have been engaged, a story that 
has just been told, or an interesting piece of news, the 
teacher should seek to turn their thoughts in a new channel 
by some anecdote or pleasantry, which will gradually lead 
to the work on hand. 

503. How is attention to be retained? 

When once secured, the teacher may keep it by thoroughly 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



199 



understanding the subject; must know how to adapt this 
instruction to the condition of the pupil; and he must be 
able to present the subject in such an interesting manner, 
that the mind will be constantly stimulated to reach out for 
new ideas. The new ideas to be presented must be related 
to those which the pupil already possesses, and not so far 
in advance but that these relations may be readily discovered. 

504. What devices may be used in securing attention? 

The following excellent rules concerning questioning a 
class, have special reference to securing attention : 

"Do not ask questions in rotation." 

" Do not point to the pupil you wish to answer, while 
giving the question." 

" Do not even look fixedly at the pupil whom you wish 
to answer, while giving the question." 

"State question to the class as a whole. Ask one 
member for the answer." 

"Do not wait an instant for the answer, when reviewing 
most subjects." 

"Do not look steadily at the pupil who is answering." 

"Do not repeat a qestion to oblige those who are 
inattentive." 

" Be sure to ask questions of those who are in the 
slightest degree i?iattentive." 

505. How may the teacher gain this control? 

If he is worried by listless pupils let him ask himself the 
honest question: "If I taught better would not my class 
attend to my teaching?" It is difficult work to give contin- 
uous, undivided attention, and the successful and wise 
teacher will never continue the strain longer than it can be 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



secured by awakening a healthful interest in the subjects 
under consideration. 

506. What relation does teaching power bear to this 

subject? 

Teachers who possess it, generally govern well. They 
exert a power which magnetizes the pupils. To teach well, 
means power to secure attention and study. 

507. How may the teacher expect to secure attention? 

The teacher that expects to have attention in the 
recitation, simply because he commands, because he has 
authority, will not have it long. He must obtain it and hold 
it by his power to please, to instruct, to inspire, to move, and 
not by a command. 

508. How would you act to gain the attention of your 
pupils? 

By telling the child something which pays him for 
giving attention. By giving information in snch a manner 
that the pupil will count it worth his hearing. Awaken his 
sympathy with the subject, and he will give earnest attention. 
Excite curiosity in the mind, and cheerful, earnest attention 
follows. 

509. How can you fail in securing attention? 

By demanding it as a right. By begging it as a great 
favor. By scolding the pupil for not giving it. It can not 
be scared by threats. Hearing the lesson rather than 
attempting to teach it, will not be likely to gain attention. 
Reading the lesson from a book will not fasten the mind 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



upon it. Presenting a confused combination of ideas will 
prevent the attention of the pupil. 

510. What is " the highest art" of the teacher? 

The ability to solicit and exact the absolute attention of 
the pupil. It is pre-eminently essential as a means of success. 

511. Can the attention of every pupil be gained? 

There will always be some whose inactivity of mind y 
indolence of nature, and indifference to the proprieties of 
life make it too great a tax upon the teacher to attempt to 
win their attention. Of such, she must quietly but firmly 
exact as close attention as may be reasonably expected of 
them. There is a false sentiment that would lay upon the 
teacher the duty of winning every child, a thing as impracti- 
cable as to run a government without laws, courts, or 
penitentiaries. 

512. How should pupils be dealt with at the beginning of 
their school experience? 

Kindly, and in a way to secure their confidence and 
esteem. Rarey, the horse- tamer, could show many teachers 
how to do this. Let the pupil understand just what is 
expected of him, and from him, and why it is expected. 

513. What are the preliminaries of the first day of school? 

The teacher should be in the district several days before 
the opening. If he is an old teacher in that district he will 
have abundant work to do in advising with his old pupils, as 
to their studies, and in arousing a thorough interest in the 
coming session. Let him not rest his success on former 
work and merits. Each term, as well as each day, must 
depend on its own merits. 



2Q2 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

514. What should be his line of conduct when a stranger 
to the community? 

Naturally these remarks refer entirely to the work of the 
district school. In cities, the new teachers make the 
acquaintance of their pupils on the first day of school. It is 
not considered necessary or desirable that they should do 
more than receive previous suggestions from the principal or 
superintendent, or both. But in the country the teacher 
should get acquainted with some of his patrons and with 
some of his pupils, should learn the history of his school, but 
should not be influenced by any gossip he may hear. The 
majority of the common schools, according to the evidence 
of the community, have a "hard name." Preparatory to the 
opening day he should know just what classes his predecessor 
had, how far advanced, should see specimens of their written 
work, if possible, and know the methods of teaching and 
governing, and the statistics left him by his predecessor. 

515. How should he act on the first day of school? 

" In the first place you want to grasp your little pupil 
warmly by the hand, to let him know that you love him. 
Then lead him into the school-room, not to a prison-like 
apartment with high, bare walls, but a nice warm room with 
tinted wall-paper, plants in the window to give it a cheerful 
appearance, and a desk for our little one to give him 
individuality." — F. W. Parker. This natnrally applies to 
the primary department of a graded school under the most 
favorable conditions. The teacher can always have this 
pleasant manner, but no amount of adornment will take the 
place of a good teacher. If the school yard must be cleaned, 
and he has not been able to gain the consent of the directors 
to have it done previous to the opening day, if the school- 
room needs cleaning and decorating, or if suitable apparatus 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



203 



has not been provided, then is the time to obtain the good 
will of the pupils and have them personally interrested in 
immediately making these necessary changes, alterations, 
and improvements. 

516. What is the teacher to especially remember? 

To be "on hand" in time. One motive to check tardi- 
ness is that of the practice of the teacher. He has no right 
to ever be late or absent. He should begin work promptly, 
call the school to order with but little noise, establish order 
at once by the manner in which he acts himself and by his 
manner of moving the school. Place a few problems in 
arithmetic on the blackboard for solution, and copies for 
slate work, before the opening hour. Keep the pupils 
engaged all the time and keep them interested in their work. 
Your school should be in full "running order" the first day 
of school. Under favorable conditions, teaching a country 
school is to be preferred to any graded or high school work 
in the country. 

517. Of what should the opening exercises consist? 

They may be varied by using any or all of the following, 
frequently changing the order of exercises: 1. Singing of 
hymn. 2. Responses. 3. Lord's prayer in concert. 4. Song. 
The responses may be, especially in primary grades, alter- 
nately the "Beatitudes," or appropriate selections taken 
from the Bible, or gems of children's poetry, written upon 
the blackboard, copied and committed by the pupils. The 
teaching of moral precepts, in any manner, must be wholly 
unsectarian. 

518. What are the principal features of a good school 
programme ? 

The time should be so divided as to do justice to all; 



204 A QUIZ- BOOK ON THE THEORY 

the times of day which different branches may best be 
studied; different grades should alternate in recitations. 
The programme should be written on the blackboard the 
first day of school and that space wholly for its use. It 
should be varied occasionally to prevent any feeling of 
monotony, and its use and purpose should be explained by 
the teacher in the five or ten minutes "talk" with which he 
opens the school. In this talk, do not refer to "rules and 
regulations." Simply state that you desire to have a " good" 
school and expect their assstance. 

519. What are the advantages of a programme? 

It gives system and order to the work of the school, and 
enables pupils to prepare their lessons at the proper time. 
Pupils will then have no excuse for a lack of preparation for 
the recitation. 

520. Give the three principal objects of recitation. 

They are Examination, Instruction, and Cultivation. 
By the first, the teacher finds out what the pupils know and 
is then better able to assign future lessons, or impart instruc- 
tion. The pupil also gains strength and fixes in his mind 
what he has learned. By the second, the pupil receives 
information imparted by the teacher or other pupils. The 
third includes the other two, and also such other criticisms 
as the teacher and other pupils may give, and the benefit 
derived from class drills and from written work. 

521. What are the essentials of a recitation? 

1. A brief reproduction of the preceding lessons. 2. 
A brief review of the preceding lesson. 3. Rehearsal and 
critical examination of the daily lesson. 4. Recapitulation 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 2 0§ 

of the daily lesson. 5. Adequate preparation for the 
advanced lesson. 

522. What is the purpose of the recitation? 

To develop individuality; to encourage originality; to 
cultivate self-reliance and self-possession; to cultivate senti- 
ments of justice, kindness, forbearance, and courtesy; that 
the development and the growth of the pupils, physically, 
intellectually, and morally, may be carefully nurtured, and 
bravely prepare them for life's service. 

523. Why should a recitation test the pupil's preparation of 
the lesson assigned? 

That the teacher may be able properly to assign future 
lessons, and also to impart additional information. 

524. What may be considered the ends of the recitation? 

"To develop the power of quick and accurate percep- 
tion, of close observation, and generally, of clear and exact 
thought; to cultivate the power of concise and ready 
expression; to determine the extent and accuracy of the 
learners' attainments; to add to the knowledge the class have 
acquired during their study hours; to determine the pupils' 
habits and methods of study, and to correct whatever is 
faulty in manner or matter; to cultivate sentiments of justice, 
kindness, forbearance, and courtesy." — Phelps* Teachers' 
Hand Book. 

525. What is one "crying evil" of this subject? 

That teachers have too many recitations. We have seen 
"model programmes" that allotted a recitation for every five 
minutes in the day. The principle is wholly wrong. It is 
not uncommon for the teacher of a countrv school to have 



2o6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

twenty-five or thirty recitations per day, and frequently a 
school has as many classes as it has pupils. No teacher can 
do justice to a class of the larger pupils in less than a half 
an hour's time. If the older pupils desire to study history, 
physiology, algebra, book-keeping, etc., it will be better to 
teach only half the advanced branches at a time. Teach 
history and algebra for two months, or half the term, and 
then the other studies for the remainder of the time. 

526. What expedients have been resorted to by teachers? 

That of conducting two recitations at the same time by 
giving questions or work to each class alternately. The 
added confusion and the division of the teacher's attention 
makes this plan of questionable benefit. It is but little 
better to leave one class in the charge of a pupil, for the 
confusion will exist to a still greater degree, and the work of 
the assistant's class will generally be poorly done. To 
alternate classes on different succeeding days, time may be 
gained for the recitations, but interest in the studies is lost 
between "times." 

527. What plan should be adopted by the teacher? 

That of throwing any intermediate grade into one set of 
" general exercises" as often as possible. Occasionally, the 
recitation of a certain study may be omitted from the day's 
work with good effect. With primary pupils, necessarily, 
the recitations should be short and frequent. But when 
there are twenty or thirty classes for one teacher to hear, 
the work will necessarily be done in a very superficial man- 
ner. Aim to have as few classes as possible and to place each 
pupil just where he belongs. Do not be arbitrary about it. 
Show them the necessity of such classification and arrangement. 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



207 



528. Are uniformly perfect recitations desirable? 

No; heretical as such an avowal may appear, there is a 
a truth in it that needs emphasis. There will be little 
progress, mental development, or real breadth where the 
chief aim is a perfect recitation in the ordinary acceptation 
of the term. It is high a"rt to know how to read rapidly, 
selecting that which is profitable and desirable.. 

529. Should a teacher make special preparation of the 
lesson for each recitation? 

Unless the teacher is perfectly familiar with the lesson 
and its bearing, so far as they ought to be presented to the 
class, and beyond that, he should make special preparation 
for each recitation; because to teacn a lesson well, one should 
know much more of it than the lesson contains. He ought 
to have a reserve fund of information upon it. A teacher 
should be so well prepared with each lesson, that were he 
called upon to recite it, he would be able to do so better 
than the best pupil in the class. 

530. Should the teacher have a "plan" for each recitation? 
Yes; he should invariably have it thought out before the 

class appears. Yet, the presence of the class, the develop- 
ment of matters at the very outset or during the progress of 
the recitation, may suggest a radical change, and very much 
for the better. This he does not fail to adopt, though 
prepared for something else. Thorough preparation is the 
foundation of all genius. 

531. Should a teacher confine himself to the text-book dur- 
ing the recitation? 

The principle is, to use the text-book as little as possible. 
It would be better, were it possible, to use no book at all 



2o8 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

during recitation. The text-book hampers the teacher in 
proportion to his dependence upon it. Still most teachers 
have neither the time nor the talent to memorize everthing 
they have to communicate, and there is, therefore, to be 
some use made of helps, in the shape of text-books, or their 
equivalents. It is difficult to mike a general rule on the 
subject, but the text book may be used by the teacher during 
recitation in those branches in which it is necessary for the 
exact words of the text to be repeated by the teacher, or 
pupil. Above all, teachers should be accurate, and therefore, 
while the use of the text-book should be reduced to the 
minimum, it should be at hand for an emergency. 

532. Should the pupils bring their text-books to the class? 

No; with the exception of the arithmetic (and its use 
should be reduced to the minimum), no text-book should be 
allowed within reach of the pupil while reciting. 

533. Why should not a teacher follow the text-book ques- 
tions? 

He should not confine himself to the printed questions 
of the author, because a pupil may answer the printed 
questions correctly, and yet not know the meaning of it. It 
is better for the teacher to make his own questions, even if 
they are not quite so good as those in the book; a slight 
variation of them has some excellence — because if he depends 
constantly for his questions on the book, he will never 
acquire the art of questioning. 

534. What are faulty questions? 

Those that require a mere echo of some statement just 
made by the teacher. The same evil attends all tasks com- 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



209 



mitted to incin. -:y. if not intelligently prepared; a slovenly 
preparation tor a repetition lesson of poetry familiarizes the 
mind with a careless habit of using words that are partly or 
altogether misunderstood. 

535. What kind of questions should the teacher use? 

Those that require a selection of the mind of a child. 
1. Of clear ideas. 2. Of clear and concise language. He 
should see that the answers are expressed, if the age of the 
child permits, in a full grammatical sentence. He must be 
patient with answers that are imperfect both in form and in 
idea, or incorrect grammatically; the other members of the 
class will correct them; if the ideas are nearly correct, 
disentangle the truth from the error; but do not be led into 
digressions by discussions of answers that are in great 
measure incorrect. Do not require an answer in any 
particular formula of words; homely words, familiar to the 
children, will represent their ideas most forcibly. 



530. What advantages are secured by the promiscuous 
method of calling upon pupils to recite? 

1. It compels all to get the whole lesson, since no one 
can know how much he will be called upon to recite, or 
when, or where. 2. It checks any disposition on the part of 
the pupil to be inattentive, since each one is liable, at any 
moment, to be called upon to. recite. 

537. Name the adyantages and the disadvantages of concert 
recitations. 

The advantages are, (1) that it is useful in awakening 
an interest in class and in school; (2) that it aids those who 
may be too timid otherwise to recite, to overcome their 
diffidence; (3) that it gives all an opportunity to recite the 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



whole or the greater part of the lesson in the same time; 
(4) that it offers the best opportunity to secure uniformity, 
and to cultivate the voice. The disadvantages are, (1) that 
it offers an opportunity to any that do not know the lesson 
very well, to attach themselves to those that do and thereby 
appear to better advantage than they really deserve; (2) that 
it a£tids an opportunity to those who may desire to conceal 
mistakes, intentional deviations and ignorance, to effect 
their purpose; (3) that it has a tendency to cultivate an 
unnatural and monotonous style; (4) that it destroys the 
pupil's independence by taking away his individuality. 

538. What are the benefits of the "individual method"? 

Quite the opposite extreme from the concert method is 
that which, for convenience, may be called by this name, 
but the only advantage claimed for this method is, that the 
individual laggard can not screen his deficiencies, as he can 
* when reciting in concert. His own individual knowledge, 
or ignorance, stands out. This is clear, and so far it is an 
advantage. But ascertaining what a pupil knows of a lesson, 
is only one end, and that by no means the most important 
end of a recitation, 

539. What is a remedy for whispering? 

The interested occupation of the pupils in their own studies. 

540. Is it a benefit to have a " whisperless" school? 

He who thinks himself a good teacher because he 
possesses such power of control over his pupils that he can 
hold them at all times in "a solemn stillness," but who fails 
in methods of instruction and in arousing in their young 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



hearts a love of knowledge and a high purpose in life, makes 
a woeful mistake. 

541. How can the pupil be prevented from wanting to 
whisper? 

The usual way is to have a rule against it, and a penalty, 
but this is a wrong principle. Noise and study are incom- 
patible. Explain this to the pupils, and enlist their aid in 
the matter. Cause them to know that you want to make the 
room pleasant; that you do not want them to be troubled and 
harassed by others interrupting them. You may ask them 
to go without whispering for a half hour, or hour, and at the 
end of that time ascertain who have done so. Or you may 
have a period set apart for speaking, by having a large card 
marked "Study Hour" on one side, and "Needful Speech" 
on the other. At the end of each hour, turn this card. 

542. What other "means" maybe used? 

Keep an eye on the noisy ones and give them separate 
seats, not so much as a punishment as to prevent their 
troubling others. Keep are cord of those who whisper much, 
and class them as " disorderly," and lower their standing for 
good behavior. Detain those who are noisy, and try tp 
influence them by a kind personal talk. 

543. What wide distinction should the teacher make? 

He should readily recognize the difference in the conduct 
of those who whisper about their studies, and those who 
whisper about mischief. Quietness can pervade the school- 
room without that repressed feeling that comes from arbitrary 
rule and the fear of severe punishment. 

546. Is the " no recess" plan advisable? 

The idea should not be entertained for a moment in the 



A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



district school. There the recess will always be a justifiable 
necessity. In several of our larger cities, notably in those 
of New. York State, the no recess plan is working with 
admirable results, according to the testimony of superin- 
tendents and principals. Its use has been universally 
advocated upon the following grounds: (1) That recesses 
are filled with moral danger to pupils; and (2) that they 
weaken the discipline of the school. To this its opponents 
reply, that in every well-disciplined school the opportunities 
for vicious contamination are almost absolutely nil; and that 
if any mischief should result from the association of pupils, 
it is far more likely to arise from their being out together 
between recesses, when their actions can not be observed by 
their teachers; and again that if children were sent to school 
for the sole purpose of their being kept still — a thought not 
entertained by any rational educator — the second argument 
might have some weight; but quietness is in no way desirable 
except in so far as it contributes to the success of this work. 
It is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. A certain 
degree of quietness must be had, or the main purpose of the 
school must fail. And the well-being of the child's physical 
nature is not to be overlooked. As means of ventilation in 
lime cases out of ten are utterly inadequate, the pupil can 
only obtain pure air in out-door exercise. 

549. What are the " Seven Laws of Teaching''? 

Dr. J. Baldwin, with a few remarks upon each, advances 
the following list, which teachers may enlarge upon to an 
unlimited extent: 

I. Know thoroughly what you would teach. 
II. Secure attention by sustaining interest. 

III. . Use language which your pupil* understand. 

IV. Proceed from flu known t<> the unknown by easy steps. 



. 1 ND PEA < TI( /•; ( )F /•/•:. Kill NG. 2 1 3 

A". Lead your pupils to find out by themselves. 
VI. Manage to havt the pupils re-state, in their own 
language, the truths taught, giving their own illustrations and 
proofs. 

VII. Ri view, Review, REVIEW. 

551. Should "Friday afternoon" exercises be given? 

Undoubtedly! Make them the happiest half-days of the 
week. With this object and that of instruction in view, 
success will surely follow. Pupils may be led to do much 
work under the impression that they are playing. Among 
the many tilings that you may do, the following are presented 
as examples: 

(1) Have a pronunciation test. Prepare and place upon 
the blackboard at least ten words commonly mispronounced. 
Do this soon enough to enable the earnest pupils to consult 
the dictionary. (2) Devote twenty minutes to "spelling 
down,' 1 using a list of words commonly misspelled. (3) Have 
a cliart or map exercise. (4) Read a short sketch, and have 
pupils reproduce the thought orally or in writing. (5) Let 
each pupil give a sentiment from a standard author. If 
possible, induce the pupil to develop the thought in his 
sentiment. (6) Place "queer queeries" on the board for 
investigation. Do this a week in advance. It will stimulate 
investigation. Parents will grow interested. (7) Give a 
practical lesson in civil government. (8) Conduct an exer- 
cise in false syntax. (9) Ask for recitations of poetry and 
prose of genuine literary merit from older pupils. (10) Have 
declamations. Some if not all of these can be used in any 
school. 



■^-ABSB^BJl.-^- 



Hints, Helps, Means, and Cautions. 



BEHAVIOR. 

Rules of conduct should be given pupils from time to time, accompanied by 
such precept and example as shall prompt to habits of obedience to such rules. 
There is liability of neglect in this regard because other and more definite matters 
press for our attention. All that is required is a definite purpose to give each class 
a comprehensive code by which their moral and social life should be gauged, and 
then a systematic arrangement of these rules, checking them as we teach them. In 
this wav the work will have been done before we suspect it. 



MANNERS. 

1. Children are supposed to learn manners at home, or to take them on 
unconsciously from intercourse with their schoolmates; but it is exceedingly 
desirable that manners should be made the subject of definite instruction in every 
school. It is said that the winning manners of Henry Clay were owing, in no 
small degree, to the careful training of his early teachers. 

2. "A beautiful behavior is the finest of fine arts."— Emerson. 

3. "Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give him mastery of 
palaces and fortunes wherever he goes."— Ibid. 

4. ''A noble and attractive every-day bearing comes of goodness, of sincerity, 
of refinement; and these are bred in years, not moments. The principle that rules 
your life is the sure posture-master." — Huntington. 

5. "I wish good behavior might enter into the curriculum of every school in 
our country. Under this head should be taught such things as how to enter a room, 
meet with the person upon whom the pupil is supposed to be calling, pass the com- 
pliments of the day, peacefully and quietly leave the room; how to introduce 
persons in a proper manner; and also under this head you may teach how to write 
notes of invitation and acceptance." — J. H. French, Institute Conductor, New 
York. 



RULES OF POLITENESS. 

Let your pupils copy the following rules into their blank-books. Add other 
directions as circumstances may require, those given here being merely a suggestive 
model. Make each direction the subject of a conversation with your pupils: 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



215 



1. True politeness consists in having and showing due regard for the feelings, 
comfort, and convenience of others. 

2. Avoid giggling or tittering in school or in company. 

3. Avoid loud talking or laughing in school or in company. 

4. Avoid the use of slang. 

5. Be particularly courteous to new scholars. 

6. Never laugh at the mistakes or blunders of other scholars or persons. 

7. Look persons in the eye when they speak to you, or when you speak to them. 

8. Whispering at lectures, places of amusement, or in public, is both rude and 
vulgar. 

9. Be respectful to your elders in tone, look, and manner. 

10. Be as polite to your father and mother, to your brothers and sisters, as yon 
are to strangers. 



THREE LEADING QUESTIONS. 

The thoughtful and conscientious teacher, in beginning to give instructions in 
any subject, finds three questions presenting themselves to him, and demanding 
clear and satisfactory answers: 

1. What is it that I am to teach? What is the nature of the subject in itself 
considered? What are its limitations? How related to, and distinguished from, 
other kindred subjects? 

2. Why am I to teach it? What are the uses to which it can be put by the 
learner? What is the end or purpose aimed at in giving instructions in it? 

3. How am I to teach it? By what means and by what method can the end 
proposed be best secured? 

The nature and relations of a subject determine the importance of knowing it; 
hence a comprehensive answer to the first question suggests an answer to the 
second. 

The nature of a subject, and the seasons for knowing it; hence the answer to 
the first and second questions, together with the nature of the mind, and the laws 
of its activity, furnish material for the answer to the third.— Hodgiri's Outlines. 



TACT. 



A famous teacher, celebrated for his shrewdness in handling the irresistible 
American boy in the school-room, tells us that he succeeded in breaking up a 
disagreeable habit of crunching apples and eating molasses-candy in his school, by 
placing a peck of apples and a platter of candy on his desk, and insisting that every 
offending boy and girl should march up and partake in the presence of the whole 
crowd. That style of recitation was an effectual cure, being founded on a law of 
human nature, that a good way to cure a bad habit is an overdose of the forbidden 
fruit. 

SUPERINTENDENTS AND PRINCIPALS. 

In the West, where the graded-school system has been quite fully developed, it 
is usual to appoint a superintendent when the aggregate enrollment is twelve 
hundred or upward. The tendancy is to appoint a special officer in schools con- 
siderably smaller; and in many schools of three or four hundred pupils the 



2i6 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

principal teacher styles himself superintendent. This, however, is a perversion of 
language. The time of a superintendent is exclusively, or very largely, employed 
in the general oversight of teachers and schools; he is rather an officer of the Board 
than a member of the corps of teachers. The principal teacher in a smaller school, 
on the other hand, is almost exclusively engaged in teaching, and his legitimate 
title is Principal. This unauthorized as kness somewhat peculiar 

to the West, where almost every man in charge of a school with one assistant is a 
"Professor." This fondness for titles very justly exposes the profession of teach- 
ing to ridicule, and confounds ideas which should be kept distinct. 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING. 

The art of questioning must be cultivated by the teacher with the utmost skill 
and persistency. There is a power in questions carefully put that the average 
teacher little suspects. A shrewd supervisor, instructor, or superintendent of 
schools can judge of a teacher's real merit by hearing her ask questions, better than 
in any other way. If the teacher follows the book-questions it indicates an 
inactive mind; if she questions freely but at random, it indicates lack of appre- 
ciation of the force of logical questioning. It is as vicious for a teacher to ask 
disjointed questions as for a preacher to ignore all system and plan in his sermon, 
or for a lawyer to address a jury without arranging his points. If we would make 
our profession honored, we must honor it as others do their professions. 



DONT'S. 

Don't scold continually, or for every little trifling offense; "familiarity breeds 
contempt," and your pupils will soon come to think that scolding is your forte, and 
you do it for fun. Thus its effect upon them when deserved is lost. 

Don't attempt to teach by comparison until you weigh well that the minds of 
children are easily confused, and in your care to teach the correct, by showing the 
incorrect, you run the risk of impressing upon them the very thing you seek to 
eradicate. 

Don't try to have your pupils learn too many things, or spend your strength in 
advancing them too rapidly. You might as well " pour water through a sieve." 

Don't forget that your pupils are rational beings, and that they have a code of 
rights that should be respected as sacredly as should be the rights of their elders. 

Don't forget the time when you was a soldier in the battle of child-life; try to 
have your pupils feel that your own childish trials and discomforts are still fresh 
in your memory. 

Don't forget that your pupils are the men and women of to-morrow; that they 
are essentially what they are made, either by precept or example; that to primary 
pupils, example is of more value than precept. 

Don't think that order consists in the quietness of the tomb, or fancy that the 
air of an Egyptian mummy is creditable in a child. 

Don't be late. Don't threaten. Don't "show off" pet classes or pet pupils. 
Don't have " pets." Don't think that one teaching of a subject will be sufficient. 
Don't ask general questions. Don't dismiss the class without order. Don't have 
too many rules. Don't attempt to make your pupils think you know more than 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACH IXC. 



you really do know. A teacher should not fear to say: "I don't know, but I will 
try to find out." This will show that the teacher is both honest and industrious. 



BENEFITS OF SCHOOL-KEEPING. 

More than one great man has acknowledged the benefit of an early experience 
in teaching a common-school. In a conversation held in November, 1821, the then 
venerable ex-President, John Adams, gave his views as to the benefits he had 

received from teaching school in his youth. His remarks are quoted from a diary 
by a relative of the Hon. Josiah Quincy : 

" Mr. Adams talked freelj and said, 'After I left college, I came home to 
Braintree to see my friends, and then went to Worcester to keep school to support 
myself, while at the same time 1 studied law with Judge Putnam. I advise every 
young person to keep school. I acquired more knowledge of I niman nature while 
I kept that school than while 1 was at the bar; than while in the world of politics, 
or at the courts of Europe. 1; is the best method of acquiring patience, self-com- 
mand, and a knowledge of character. 1 " 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

The following things aid in securing good discipline and preventing disorder: 

1. See that the school-room is well warmed, ventilated, cleansed and lighted, 
and adorned with pictures, mottoes, and flowers. 

2. Give pupils plenty to do. 

3. Approve work when well done. 
3. Carefully inspect pupil's work. 

5. Keep up an interest in work. 

6. Few rules uniformly executed. 

7. Frequent changes of exercises. 

8. Control by kindness and firmness. 

9. Make the school and its exercises popular. 
10. Pile on motives. 



QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD TEACHER. 

No knowledge, however profound, can substitute a teacher. A teacher must 
have knowledge, as an orator must have kowledge, as a builder must have 
materials; but as, in choosing the builder of my house, I do not select the man who 
has the most materials in his yard, but I proceed to select him by reference to his 
skill, ingenuity, and taste, so also in testing an orator or teacher, I satisfy myself 
that they fulfill the comparatively easy condition of possessing sufficient materials 
of knowledge with which to work; I look then to those high and noble qualities 
which are the characteristics of their peculiar calling. There were hundreds at 
Athens who knew more than Demosthenes, many at Rome that knew more than 
Cicero; but there was but one Demosthenes and one Cicero. — Lord Ashburtori's 
Address to Schoolmasters. 

Carlyle wrote: " For many years it has been one of my most constant regrets 
that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natural history 7 , so far, at least, 
as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the roadside, and the little winged 



2l8 A QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 

and wingless neighbors that are constantly meeting me with a salutation which I 
cannot answer as things are. 

"Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, too, and make meat 
home in the starry heavens which are always overhead, and which I don't half know 
to this day? I love to prophesy that the time will come when the schoolmaster 
will be strictly required to possess these two capabilities, and that no ingenious 
little denizen of this universe be thenceforth debarred from his right of liberty in 
these two departments, and doomed to look on them, as if across great fences, all 
his life." 



Educational Aphorisms. 



Boys ought to learn what they should practice when they become men. 

—Agesilaus (King of Sparta). 

Awake your senses, that you may the better judge. —Shakespeare. 

It is better that a boy should like his lesson, than learn it. 

—Sir John Lubbock. 

Science properly taught is one of the best means of educating the faculties of 
the human mind. —William Rushton. 

Object-lessons, giving the pupils ideas and thoughts with which they are 
familiar, are to be avoided. The interest of a lesson depends very much upon its 
novelty, and if this element is wanting, there is very little left to create a perma- 
nent impression. — James Johonnot. 

As to reading (i. e. learning to read), a great care is to be taken that it be never 
made as a business to him, nor he look on it as a task. * * * * 

* * I have always a fancy that learning might be made a play and 

recreation to children. * * * * Thus children may be cozened 

into knowledge of the letters; be taught to read without perceiving it to be any- 
thing but a sport; and play themselves into which others are whipped for. 
Children should not have anything like work, or serious tasks laid on them; neither 
their minds nor bodies will stand it. —Locke. 

All teaching should be tested by its quality. —F. W. Parker. 

In mental food, as in physical, what is one man's meat is another's poison; 
and a wide latitude of choice is necessary. — Schoolmaster (Eng.) 

It is better for boys to see something, than to say something. — Ruskin. 

Our earliest teaching must be things, not words. —Barnard. 

INDUCTIVE METHOD. 

It must be acknowledged that the methods of disquisition and teaching may be 
sometimes different, and on very good reasons undoubtedly; but for my part I am 



AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 219 

convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the 
method of investigation is incomparably the best: since, not content with 
serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they 
grew; it tends to set the reader himself in the track of invention, and to direct him 
into thoBe paths in which the author has made his own discoveries, if he should be 
so happy as to have made any that are valuable. —Edmund Burke. 

Do not expect, even by the very best teaching, to make good scholars out of all 
your pupils. —John Swett. 

I hate by-roads to education; endeavoring to make children prematurely wise 
is useless labor. —Dr. Johnson. 

Impressions received through the eye are the most definite and indelible. 

— Joseph Henry. 

Pestalozzi found for education the formula development, but applied this 
almost exclusively to intellectual training, basing upon it his alphabet of intuition. 
Frcebel extended this into evolution, applying the law to all phases of being, and 
furnishing an alphabet of doing, of skill, of expression. 



Amenities and Tribulations of Teaching. 



Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, 
To teach the young idea how to shoot. 

—Thomson's Spring. 

To sentence a man of true genius to the drudgery of a school, is to put a race- 
horse in a mill. —Colton. 

Taught or untaught the dunce is just the same; 
Yet still the wretched master bears the blame. 

—Dry den. 

The schoolmaster is apt to be a favorite with the female part of creation, 
especially in the rural districts. —Irving. 



Uneasy lie the heads of all who rule; 

The most so his whose kingdom is a school. 



-0. W. Holmes. 



I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than to be one of the 
twenty to follow my own teaching. —Shakespeare. 

And while a paltry stipend earning, 

He sows the richest seeds of learning; 

No joys, alas! his toil beguile, 

His mind lies fallow all the while. 

—Robert Lloyd. 



.4 QUIZ-BOOK ON THE THEORY 



Worried and tormented into monotonous feebleness, the best part of life ground 
out of him in a mill of boys. —Dickens. 

She dwells by great Kenhawa's side. 

In valleys green and cool, 
And all her hope and all her pride 

Are in her village school. —Longfellow. 

If a student convinces you that you are wrong and he is right, acknowledge it 
cheerfully, and— hug him. —Emerson. 

The twig is so easily bended, 

I have banished the rule and the rod; 
I have taught them the goodness of knowledge, 

They have taught me the goodness of God. 

— Charles Dickinson. 

If vexed with a child when instructing it, try to write with your left hand. 
Remember a child is all left hand. —J. F. Boyes. 

To rear, to teach, 
Becoming as is meet and fit, 
A link among the days to knit 

The generations each with each. —Tennyson. 

What comfort some pedagogues might derive from the thought that wise pupils 
can learn as much from a fool as from a philosopher. — Vedder. 

And when the world shall link your names 

With gracious lives and manner's tine, 
The teacher shall assert her claims, 

And proudly whisper, "These were mine!" 

— Whittier. 

The eminences of their scholars commend the memories of schoolmasters to 
posterity, who otherwise, in obscurity had been altogether forgotten. 

—Thomas Fuller. 

O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule, 
And sun the in the light of happy faces, 
Love, Hope, and Patience — these must be thy graces, 

And in thine own heart let them first keep school. 

— Coleridge. 

Enny man who has kept a skool for ten years ought to be made a Major 
Gineral and have a penshun for the rest of his nateral days, and a hoss and waggin 
to do his going around in. —Josh Billings. 

Still to be pinioned down to teach 

The Syntax and the Parts of Speech, 

Or deal out authors by retail, 

Like penny pots of Oxford ale; 

O 'tis a service irksome more 

Than tugging at the slavish oar. —Robert Lloyd. 



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WITH FULL ANSWERS, NOTES, QUERIES, ETC. 

"BY _A__ JP. SOUTHWIOK. 





ELEMENTARY SERIES. 




ADVANCED SERIES 


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14. 


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20. 


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17. 


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— t^a-PRICE TEN 


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subjects. To meet this demand, we have, had prepared this series of Question 
Books, which, compared with the many books of the sort already published, pre- 
sents the foUowing advantag 

1. Economy.— The teacher need purchase books only on the subjects upon 
which special help is needed. Frequently a $1.50 book is bought for the sake of a 
few - ques dons in a single study. Here the studies may be taken up one at a time, 
a special advantage in New York, since applications for State- Certificates may 
now present themselves fin- examination in only purl of the subjects, and receive 
partial certificates to be < echo. ill certificah the branches hare 

issed. The same plan is pursued by county superintendents 

and commissioners who iging their teachers to prepare themselves for 

higher certific 

•_'. Thoroughness.— Each subject occupies from 32 to 10 pages, carefully 
compiled, and referring to the leading text-books. The questions in large type 
campare in number to those given in other Question Books, while 1 
there are many notes, queries, and practical hints, that fill 1h<> learner's mind with 
suggestions to further investigation ami personal thought aj>on the subject. In this 
particular thi cape the severe criticism that tats been passed 

upon the mere- f'ra m m i ng-Books. 

3. Utility.— The Dime Question Books are 'printed in three sizes of type, 
cart-fully distinguishing which is the - sntial, that the teacher who has but 

little time may concentrate it upon the salient points, and afterward fill in the 
interesting but less importanl . The handsome page and the clear 

type add much to the attractiveness of the sen 

The Entire Series is now ready. Each sent Post-paid for 10 cts. Each Series 
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•^Address G. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.« 



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•HTie ^ Schoolmaster * is * Abroad-^ 

Some Papers About Pedagogues. 



BY JAMES BALDWIN, Ph.D., 

Author of "^English Literature and Literary Criticism,, 1 '' etc.,etc. 



" The Schoolmaster " is a series of eleven papers supposed»to have been pre- 
sented to a company of teachers who were forever talking "shop." The author 
begins by saying: 

" We were a company of Teachers just returned from the great national meeting 
at Madison:— 

" Theodosia, who has taken a course in three Normal Schools. 

"Mary Jane, a young teacher from the country. 

" Agamemnon, old and decidedly behind the times. 

" Charles Augustus, a Noianal graduate. 

"Myself, a Schoolmaster who is supposed to be abroad." 

" Naturally enough, all our conversation was about schools, school-keeping, 
and kindred topics; and the occasion was favorabl j for the reading of a few papers 
which had been prepared on educational topics. The desire expressed by the com- 
pany for these papers in a more permanent form is my only excuse for introducing 
myself and them to the public." 

Each one of the above characters takes part in every discussion, and they keep 
things at a "white heat." 

Old Agamemnon turns the pompous Charles Augustus upside down, and gives 
Miss Theodosia a few ''left handers" that make her feel like taking two or three 
more courses in a Normal, and The Schoolmaster himself is occasionally "wakened 
up" in a lively manner. The last chapter of the work, entitled, 

"THE COMMON SCHOOLS OF A QUARTER CENTURY HENCE," 

Is the paper read before the Indiana State Teachers' Association in 1883 by the 
author. We hold ourselves responsible for. the following statement: Any person 
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it at our expense, and we will refund the money. The book contains 224 pages, 
bound in cloth, and will ba sent to any address on receipt of ONE DOLLAR. 



Address MODERN TEASMERS' SUPPLY 60., Publishers, 

— •—iLogansport, Ind.i— ♦— 



